


The Cat Goes... Meow?

by inuchimera7410 (BaePuppyCat)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cat!Adrien, Cat!Chat, F/M, Fluff, Humor, I just really wanted to write something with adrien as a cat okay, Identity Reveal, we'll see where this goes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-05 04:38:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5361677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaePuppyCat/pseuds/inuchimera7410
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He shakily looked down in growing horror expecting to see gloved hands only to find <i>adorable cat paws?!</i><br/>----<br/>(aka Chat accidentally gets turned into a real cat!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: After thinking about what I want to do with this story a little more, I changed a little bit when Adrien is talking to Plagg towards the end and tweaked some of their dialogue.

"Ladybug, look out!" Chat called, rolling across the street to avoid an attack. Ladybug flipped away from a whip lash, aiming at the Leopard King with her yo-yo. The spotted-clad villain simply swatted it away with a powerful swipe of his gloved paws and jumped onto the top of a light pole.

"I almost had him!" She cursed as Chat leapt beside her. "I think the akuma is in his whip." 

"Hey Leopard King," He yelled at him. "There's only room for one feline around here and I'm not going anywhere! I am quite _cat_ -ching after all." He couldn't resist wiggling his eyebrows at Ladybug. 

Ladybug rolled her eyes, but giggled. That was a victory in his book. 

"Oh really," the Leopard King purred and tapped his chin thoughtfully, pointed tail swishing behind him. The fanged smirk that spread across his face didn’t settle well with Chat at all. “We’ll have to see about that. I'm going to prove just how superior animals are to humans; this will be the perfect test of my power!” 

His tail flickered and began to glow. Chat eyed it warily, "What do you think that is?"

“It must be another attack. Don't get hit.” Ladybug warned. 

"You don't have to worry about me my lady." Chat grinned. 

Expecting to avoid a powered attack, they jumped into the air but instead of using his tail he lashed out with his whip. Unable to dodge, it wrapped around Ladybug's ankle and yanked her to the ground. Crying out, she landed hard, her yo-yo clattering out of her grip. 

"Ladybug!" Chat yelled from above her as the Leopard King twisted around, his tail releasing a glowing arrow that was aimed straight for her. He knew she wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time so without a second thought, Chat dove back down and encased Ladybug in his arms, eyes squeezed shut. 

"Chat!" 

There was a bright flash as the arrow hit him in the back- and shattered immediately in a flurry of light. 

"Chat! Are you okay? Chat?" Ladybug shook his shoulders desperately, her blue eyes shining. Chat blinked at her. 

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay. Actually," He said, reaching for his back in confusion. "Did he even hit me? I don't feel anything." Well that wasn't completely true. There was a warm, pleasant tingling left behind. 

"What do you mean?" She asked, equally as baffled. "I just saw it, of course it did-" She stopped mid-sentence as she moved around to inspect him. "Wait, what? There's no wound! And you don't sound like you've been possessed or changed like that last time."

Suddenly the air was filled with an obnoxious snickering and they whirled to face the Leopard King. 

"I don't know what you're smiling at. Your attack didn't exactly work." Chat stared at him with a hand on his hip. "In fact, it even felt kind of nice. Mind aiming for my shoulders next?"

The Leopard King merely grinned his toothy smile, "Oh, I wouldn't say that Mr. Kitty Cat. But you know what? I think this is my cue to exit, for now at least; I wouldn't want to spoil all the fun right away. Au revoir!" 

Ladybug and Chat charged for him but there was a bright flash of light and when they could see again, he was gone. 

That had definitely been bizarre, Chat thought. Then he became aware of the fuming Ladybug beside him and groaned inside. Uh oh. Dreading the inevitable, he turned to face her with a hesitant smile, uncertainly scratching his head.

"Well, that could've gone worse-"

"You _stupid cat!"_ She yelled. Chat wilted slightly. "You're always jumping in front of me and putting yourself in danger. You could've gotten really hurt." 

"But I'm fine! His attack didn't even do anything." He shrugged, but that wasn't good enough for her. 

"We didn't know that would happen though." She looked away, eyes downcast and he felt his heart clench. He hadn't realized just how worried he'd made her. "This is serious Chat. One day I'm just afraid that you'll do something reckless and get really hurt..."

Chat felt himself warm inside. Despite the pain in her voice, he couldn't keep down the tiny flutter of joy she'd caused him knowing how all this worry was for his sake. But he ultimately couldn't bear the upset look on her face and decided he needed to fix that right away. He laughed. "Oh please, reckless is only my middle name. Besides, we both know you're much more important than me. You're the only one with the power to cleanse the akuma after all."

"I know that, but your life is just as important-" She began to protest but Chat cut her off when he tried slipping an arm around her shoulders.

"What's this now?" He teased, his mischievous green eyes twinkling. "Worried about me my lady? Have you fallen for me?" With a huff, she let out a loud breath. He was pleased when she lightly pushed him away. 

"Hardly, you silly kitty." She playfully punched his shoulder. The ease had returned to her face, the tension leaving her shoulders. There was that sunny smile that he knew and loved.

Chat spared a grin before eyeing the spot where the akuma had just vanished moments ago. "So what do we do about Leopard King?"

"He really seems to have just disappeared." Ladybug said with a shrug. "But he's still out there so we need to keep an eye out. We should patrol tonight just in case. I don't know what he's up to, but he seemed to definitely have something up his sleeve. We'll get him next time for sure." She smirked at him. "You were right about there being room for only one feline though: one cat is plenty for me." 

"You love me." Chat winked and she just shook her head, raising her hands in exasperation. 

"I should get going; I was actually in the middle of something before this, but I'll see you tonight. Try and stay out of trouble till then Chat!" She laughed before gracefully swinging away.

He watched her fly across the skyline until she finally vanished in the distance, allowing a fond smile to spread across his face. "I'll try my best, my lady."

~.~.~.~.~

"Ready Plagg?" Adrien stretched his arms, eyes drawn to his tiny kwami who whined loudly from his perch on Adrien's pillow. 

He had been feasting on a lovely piece of camembert and only clung to it tighter. "Now? But I just started on this. The sun hasn't even set all the way yet!" 

"There's no harm in being early. And Plagg, that's already your fifth one." Adrien grimaced. How Plagg managed to eat so much cheese in so little time was beyond him. He groaned at the thought of having to sleep with that smell later that night. 

"I don't see your point." With a happy cry, Plagg inhaled the remaining chunk and sighed, blissful. He patted his stomach. "Ok, let's go." 

A moment later, Chat was leaping out the window on all fours and springing into the evening, delightfully sprinting from roof top to roof top. It would've felt perfect if not for the light rain that had begun to fall several hours before. He shook some of the raindrops from his hair off in annoyance. 

He was definitely a little earlier than he needed to be but he had just been excited at the thought of seeing his lady so soon again. They didn't often go on patrols together and it wasn't so much that he enjoyed the patrolling itself over the fact that it was only more time spent with his precious Ladybug. 

Of course, there was also the matter of the akuma still on the loose. Their jobs first and foremost were to protect the city of Paris but Chat thought of it in a different way, thinking back to how Ladybug had gotten so mad at him for trying to protect her again. 

In his eyes, Ladybug was amazing by herself and he truly did not doubt that she was strong and incredible enough to defeat any adversary all on her own. Her fiery spirit and passion to protect the people was one of the things that burned so brightly about her after all. But while she was busy protecting others, she gave no thought of protecting herself. That's what Chat believed he was truly there for.

Ladybug existed to protect the people. Chat was there to protect Ladybug.

That was his opinion anyway. Of course he cared about the citizens too and it wasn't as if he didn't believe she didn't have his back as well. They were a team after all and a great one at that, but he would always be thinking about his lady, regardless of how mad she got because of it. 

That was something that wasn't about to change. 

"Alright, where could she be...." Chat paused, watching the sun finally sink beneath the horizon. It wouldn't be long now before she-

POOF!

There was a puff of smoke and suddenly Chat was falling down, limbs flailing in surprise. Even though he'd been caught off guard, he managed to twist around and land on all fours safely. What on Earth had just happened? He shook his head to try and reorient himself. 

There was a dull clunk behind him and he jumped in surprise, flipping around. He recognized the glowing green paw on the black ring immediately. His miraculous!

Chat reeled. He hadn't felt it come off, but also why did it look so much bigger now?

Seconds later, the ring glowed brightly and turned back to silver as Plagg frantically flew out of it. Adrien yelped in shock: Plagg had suddenly gone from palm-size to about the size of his _head_ but rather than an actual yelp, a high pitched _meow_ filled the air instead. 

There was no question that that sound had come from his own mouth. He clamped it tightly shut, as realization started to hit him. He shakily looked down in growing horror expecting to see gloved hands only to find _adorable cat paws?!_

"Okay, this is definitely not normal." Plagg said slowly, flying around his face. 

_Plagg what's going on?!_ Adrien tried speaking, but only a series of high-pitched yowls were coming from his throat. This could not be happening. He had not just turned into a cat. 

"I hate to break it to you, but I think you _did_ just turn into a cat." Plagg said. "You even have real cat ears and a tail!" As if to prove his point, Plagg pulled straight up on his tail. Adrien screeched.

YUP. He had definitely felt that. 

_Wait Plagg, you can understand me?_

Plagg deadpanned. "Um... yes? Have you not looked at me? I'm actually a cat!" 

Adrien rolled his eyes. Whether or not the tiny cat kwami could be classified as a real cat or not wasn't exactly the biggest issue here. The initial shock was quickly wearing off and the panic was creeping in. He could feel the fur on his back standing on end, his back arched in alarm. He was even doing cat actions! 

_How did this happen?_

"Did you eat anything weird today?" Plagg offered. 

_Plagg!_ Adrien hissed. _You're not being helpful_.

"Hmm," Plagg floated anxiously in thought. "Wait, do you think it could have to do with that fight earlier today? The Leopard King's attack!" 

Adrien's eyes widened. Could that akuma's attack actually be the cause of all this? He had initially believed that nothing had happened but maybe this was the effect? 

"This is not good..." Plagg said. 

_We have to find Ladybug!_ Adrien said. _I bet her Cleansing Light could fix this and turn me back to normal._ Of course! They just had to find Ladybug and then problem solved.

"Oh good idea," Plagg said. "Except how is she going to know it's you?." 

Oh. Plagg had a point.

 _Ugh. It can't be helped._ Adrien bristled. _You'll just have to explain for me._

"Just like that? But what about your secret identity?"

_It's not like we have to tell her. She has to have a kwami too right? So it'll be fine as long as you don't say my name. Once you explain the situation, we can leave right after she turns me back to normal so she doesn't see me. She should be showing up soon!_

And just as he thought his bad luck hadn't already been enough, a flash of red caught his eye and they simultaneously turned to see his one and only Ladybug leaping from roof to roof farther and farther away.

 _Come on Plagg! We have to catch up to her!_ Never had Adrien been so grateful for having fingers now that he was lacking them and had to resign to picking up his ring with his mouth. He took off in her direction. 

"Careful Adrien, you're just a cat right now. It's dangerous!" Plagg said. 

He ignored him, bounding across the roofs with such practiced ease that it didn't feel much different from when he usually moved around. The biggest problems were leaping across distances. Before they'd been far but as Chat Noir he had easily been able to cross the distance. As a mere cat, not so much, but most of the spaces were small enough for his lithe body to make it. He grudgingly admitted that he worked well as a cat.

Quickly making his way over, he became aware of Ladybug in the distance. She had finally come to a stop and was looking around as if confused. 

She must be looking for him, he realized. He _was_ there, she just didn't know it. And he was so close to her now!

Eager to catch her attention before she moved on, Adrien opened his mouth to call out to her but he had already forgotten that he couldn't talk. With horror, he registered a moment too late that he'd dropped his silver ring. 

_My miraculous!_ In his scrambling to stop, he skidded across the roof top but couldn't gain traction since it was so slippery from rain and slid right off the edge. 

"Adrien!" He was only dimly aware of Plagg's frantic cry as he plummeted downwards.

The rain had begun to fall harder. There was a muffled crash, his body too light to cause any noise that would draw much attention. 

Adrien rested on his side amidst a pile of garbage that had broken his fall and saved him from most harm, but he hadn't managed to escape unscathed. His entire body felt heavy and his vision was beginning to blur as dark spots clouded his sight. 

Faintly through the sheet of rain, there was a soft intake of breath and then the silhouette of a fuzzy red figure crouched over him. 

_Ladybug...?_ He vaguely felt a pair of arms scooping him up and the last thing he was aware of before slipping into darkness was a familiar pair of bright blue eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien can't _cat_ -ch a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted on the first chapter, but just in case anyone hasn't seen I ended up changing a little bit when Adrien was talking to Plagg towards the end after thinking about where I want this story to go. Just a PSA!

_It’s warm…_   was all Adrien could process as the world swam back into focus.

“I promise it’s not going to try and eat you!” A voice giggled in the distance. His ear twitched. “But we’re not going to keep it, so you can hide for tonight if you’d like, ok?”

_Huh?_ He blinked to clear away the blurry spots left in his vision. For a moment he almost felt himself falling back under, but he shifted lightly and soft fabric rustled around him.

_A blanket?_   _It smells nice._  Adrien observed drowsily, curling into it. A part of him didn’t want to move because he was so comfortably wrapped but a noisy slamming finally snapped him out of his daze.  _Wait…what?_

The first thing he noticed was the color pink. And a lot of it. He also took note that he’d been loosely wrapped in a blanket and placed on some kind of chaise. He could’ve sworn he’d heard some voices too but he was still a little out of it.  _Where am I?_

There was a rattle behind him and he jumped at the noise.

“Oh hello little kitty, you’re awake.”

Adrien was frozen to the spot.  _Princess?_ He squeaked in surprise, but when a meow rather than words came out instead reality came crashing back to him.

He wasn’t exactly Chat Noir anymore. He wasn’t even Adrien.

He’d been turned into a  _cat_.

Marinette’s head was peeking over the top of an opening in the ground, smiling cheerfully at him.

_Blue eyes…_  that’s right. They were the last thing he remembered from before though he could’ve sworn it was Ladybug. Then again, he  _had_  just fallen off a roof.

She closed the trap door and padded over to crouch down by him. He fidgeted nervously and quietly stared. Her hair was free from her usual pigtails and rested damply across her shoulders, curling lightly at the tips. She also wore a loose t-shirt and baggy pants.

_Cute…_ He flushed.

To be frank, it was quite a change and it was throwing him off.

She lifted a small tray onto the chaise. On it, there was a shallow dish of water and plate of an assortment of food. He smelt it before he even saw it and scooted back in repulsion; there were even bits of  _cheese_. She nudged it gently towards him.

“Here you go. I’m not really sure what’s good for cats to eat so I just swiped a few things I thought might be okay.”

No no no. No way. He might look like a cat, but he wasn’t about to start eating out of a bowl like one! As if to mock him, there was a low rumble in his stomach and he grimaced. Okay, maybe he’d take some water, but he would  _not_  eat the cheese. He’d rather starve.

“Not hungry?” Marinette tilted her head, her damp curls bouncing lightly. Adrien felt the slight need to flick at them.  

_Suppress it. Suppress it!_

Agitated, he tried shaking off the blanket but his claws accidentally caught on the fabric instead. In his struggle to free himself, it quickly became a tangled mess. What did he do to deserve this?  _Stupid blanket!_  He yowled.

From within his fluffy prison, he heard Marinette laugh and felt a little part of himself die from embarrassment. When he felt gentle hands touch him though, he went still and allowed her to withdraw him from the trap. Wide eyed, he simply stared at her, tongue-tied from the soft smile she was giving him as she grew close to his face. This near, he could see a light spattering of freckles across her nose. His heart picked up.

“You’re not exactly a graceful cat are you? It’s a good thing I was nearby and saw what happened. I thought cats were supposed to land on their feet. ” She reached over to pet him and giggled. Inside, Adrien was mortified. He definitely must have been blushing furiously beneath all his fur so he was at least happy she couldn’t see that. And what was that vibration in his chest? Oh God. He was purring wasn’t he?

_Purring_. For real.

The sooner he and Plagg found Ladybug and fixed this mess, the better…

_Oh no- Plagg!_  He looked around frantically. The little black kwami was nowhere to be found and neither was his miraculous. He filled with dread.

He needed to get back out there and find them fast! But before he could make it anywhere, he squeaked in surprise when a pair of hands hooked under his arms and gently lifted him into the air. He tried to squirm out of her grasp but Marinette’s grip was steady.

His whines of protest only came out as a series of tiny meows to which she found hilarious. “You’re lucky you’re cute. I’m more a fan of hamsters.” She teased with a wink.

_Hamsters?!_  Now he was just insulted.

“You know,” She said. “You kind of remind me of someone I know. You even have his eyes!” He tilted his head in confusion. Her smile had suddenly dropped into a small frown. “You don’t have a collar though so you must be a stray, but you’re surprisingly calm. And you’re just so sweet! I wish I could keep you.”

“No!” A tiny muffled voice shouted from somewhere. Adrien jerked. He’d definitely heard something and it hadn’t come from Marinette.  _Am I just hearing things?_ Maybe this was some kind of cat sense? But Marinette paid no heed and just giggled, cradling him in her arms. He wondered if she could feel how hard his heart was pounding. It was even worse when she started scratching his ears; to his horror it even started to feel good. He couldn’t keep the noise of pleasure from his throat down this time and the room was filled with loud purring.

He would never be able to look Marinette in the eye again.

To be honest, Adrien really didn’t know much about Marinette. He knew her mostly as the shy, sweet girl that sat behind him in class and who also always had the brightest smile on her lips when she’d say hello to him. He had often wished that they could become good friends, but whenever he tried talking to her she would freeze up and stutter then dart away as soon as she could. He couldn’t figure out what exactly he had done to elicit this behavior from her, especially since he seemed to be the only she was like that with. With everyone else she was confident and laughed freely. It drove him a little crazy and it was puzzling to say the least.

Also, when he’d met her as Chat, she had seemed to fawn over him at first but it had quickly become apparent that she had no real interest. She’d even taken initiative and helped him with the Evillustrator. It had fascinated him and he’d eagerly gone to ask her about her encounter with Chat the next day, but without fail she once again became a stuttering mess.

So it was definitely strange to have her talking so normally with him, as Adrien.

Well… sort of.

_She smells good…like the blanket._  He couldn’t help but notice as she held him, warming slightly. But then he shook his head.

What was he doing? Both Plagg and his miraculous were still missing! He glanced at the window. It was still dark out but there was no way of telling how long he’d been here already. Ladybug was probably long gone by now too. At least he knew where he was and how to get home but all the windows were closed so how was he supposed to get out?

He sneezed, ears flicking sharply.

“Oh! Are you cold? Hold on, let me get the towel. I didn’t want to end up hurting you but now I can dry you off properly.” She stood up and set him down on her desk to escape into her bathroom. He curiously looked around her room. There was a mannequin and sewing machine which she used for her design work no doubt and nearby was a staircase that lead up to an area with a bed. He was making his way over to the computer when he spotted it, jerking in alarm and tail puffing excitedly.

There was no mistake. The silver ring that was currently resting on the table was one he’d recognize anywhere. She must have picked it up when she found him. Maybe his luck was turning around after all!

He padded over eagerly, beyond relieved that it hadn’t been left for  a random person to find. That could’ve been a whole other degree of disaster. Maybe the higher power that had punished him with all this bad luck had finally realized how cruel they were being and decided to give him at least this little break. But when he bent down to pick it up, a swipe of fingers pried it quickly out of sight.

“No you silly cat.” Marinette had a hand on her hip, a towel dangling on her elbow. His ring was pinched between her fingers. “If you played with this, you could swallow it on accident. So paws off.” She smirked at her own pun and slipped it into her pocket.

_Nooo!_  He meowed pathetically and swiped at her, even daring to go so far as to act as cute as he could by rolling over and weaving around her legs. His pride and dignity were long gone by this point, but she remained stubborn and shook him off. He slumped in defeat and watched with drooping ears as she placed the ring in a box on her desk and locked it.

Now he was in a pickle. How was he going to get it back?

_At least it’s safe._  He mulled. And he did have to find Plagg and make sure he was okay. Then they could figure out how to get the miraculous back, but before any of that could happen, he had to find a way out.

Suddenly he was encased in darkness. Caught off guard, he scrambled around, yowling, until he was able to poke his head out. Marinette had taken advantage of his distracted state and had captured him with the towel in one fell swoop. She’d then proceeded to vigorously, but gently rub it over him while humming cheerfully.

He meowed in irritation. He didn’t like the towel! But it was better than being wet so he grudgingly let her dry him off. However, a small part of him was loathe to admit it, but he almost found himself enjoying the care.  _A super small part_ , he told himself.

“There,” She finally pulled away. He imagined this is what a shirt felt like after a few rounds in a dryer. “Hey now, don’t look at me like that. If I hadn’t taken you in, you’d still be out there right now.” She tried patting him on the head again, but he ducked away from her and jumped off the table.

She sighed. “You’re feeling restless, huh? You’re probably not used to being inside.”

She wasn’t completely wrong. He trotted around the room, skirting the walls. There were two big windows and two trap doors, one over her bed and the closed one on the floor. He darted up the stairs leading to her bed towards the glass door.

“Hey!” She called after him, but he was already at the top. With a satisfied purr, he noted the large cat pillow on her bed. Hamsters, yeah right!

“Where do you think you’re going?”  She chastised, having followed him up. He leapt onto his hind legs, reaching for the glass door and she frowned. “You want to go outside that badly?”

_Yes!_  He meowed insistently. Desperate times called for desperate measures. He flashed her the biggest, most watery gaze he could muster, a trick he often used on Ladybug which always worked as long as he wasn’t being too annoying. Marinette rolled her eyes and it was such a familiar motion that Adrien was taken aback for a second, but she just scooped him up in one arm before lifting the glass door and nimbly climbing out.

The rain had stopped and the night air was cool and refreshing. Over the rooftops, they could see the tip of the Eiffel tower glittering in the distance. In Marinette’s warm grasp, Adrien wouldn’t have minded staying just like that for a little longer, but as nice as it felt he couldn’t stay. He had to find Plagg and then get back his miraculous. There was a small part of him that secretly hoped that she would pet his ears at least once more, but he didn’t want to let this chance pass.

With as much force as he could muster, he twisted out of her arms and jumped onto the roof, but she didn’t try very hard to stop him. The only light nearby spilled from her window, but it was enough for him to see the concern on her face.

His heart twisted in guilt and he hesitated. She just looked so worried. He didn’t owe her anything, not really, but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to leave her like that. With a small sigh, he turned around and jumped up between the bars.

She blinked down at him in surprise when he began to weave affectionately between her legs, trying to offer her a little comfort. Adrien purred at the return of her smile and as if she just knew, she bent down to scratch his ears again.

“Alright, you be careful out there kitty. I thought black cats were bad luck but it looks like you got lucky this time around. I guess it’s because Ladybug is looking out for you.” She winked at him. He felt himself blush again.“Be safe.”

_Thanks Princess._

That was his cue. With a flourish of his tail, he bounced across the roof much more carefully this time, and started making the tedious way down.

~.~.~.~.~

By the time Adrien recognized his mansion in the distance, he was exhausted. His house wasn’t far from Marinette’s but being a fraction of his usual size had made the trip take a lot longer than normal. He groaned inside, thinking of how he was going to have to get up to his room somehow too. That’s where he desperately hoped Plagg was.

Going down was one thing, but climbing up was another and by the time he made it to his window after having to scale all kinds of walls and trees as creatively as possible, he was dead on his feet. Every limb hurt. Even his tail hung pitifully behind him.

He pressed against the glass and peered inside. Just beyond the window, Plagg was floating quickly back and forth in an agitated circle. Adrien had never been happier to see him.

He beat his little paws against the glass as hard as he could, meowing loudly. When Plagg finally noticed him there was the moment when realization hit him and in a flash he had flown straight through the window. For a horrifying second, Adrien wobbled backwards in surprise but was able to catch himself.

_That was too close!_ Adrien sighed in relief but suddenly there was Plagg openly nuzzling his face as if it’d been much longer than a couple of hours. Then again, they never  _had_  been apart this long before.

“Adrien!” Plagg cried happily.

Adrien was shocked. He’d never seen Plagg act so affectionate before. His kwami was usually grumpy and whiny and never made things easy for him, but he knew that he cared about him. It was rare for him to show it so openly though, but the affection wasn’t unwelcome. He really must’ve been worried, he thought warmly.

_You do care._ He teased appreciatively with a purr.  _Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to worry you._  When Plagg snorted though, the moment was ruined.

“I wasn’t worried! I was just thinking about how I would never get another piece of camembert if you didn’t show up again.” Plagg flew back and inspected him thoroughly. “You look like you haven’t had it easy. Wait, what about the miraculous?”

_I promise it’s safe for now._ Adrien said.  _But can we get inside first? I’ll explain after._

After another struggle of trying to figure out how to open the window that ended with Plagg getting a ruler wedged under enough so he could slip inside, Adrien crawled onto his bed and fell flat over, wishing he never had to move another inch. The way Plagg flopped onto his head told him he was thinking the same thing.

“I could really go for some camembert about now.”

_Sorry Plagg, that’ll have to wait_.  _I can’t exactly sneak a piece for you like this._  Adrien murmured. He was really tired. His eyes drooped heavily. Plagg rolled around in despair.

“If you’re not going to get me cheese, are you going to at least tell me what happened? I tried following you, but Ladybug got away too fast. Adrien?” Plagg poked his fuzzy face.

But Adrien had already fallen asleep and was dead to the world. Plagg rolled his eyes but just tucked himself under his neck. What mattered was that they were back together and Adrien said the miraculous was safe so he would take his word for it and let him sleep. He deserved the rest. Plagg sighed.

“Just what have we gotten ourselves into now…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Adrien. What did he do to deserve this! I'm having a little too much fun with this... 
> 
> More to come!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Un _fur_ tunately, nothing goes according to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I'm sorry, the cat puns won't stop.)

"Adrien! Wake up already!"

Adrien grumbled at the very unwanted wake-up call though it was increasingly difficult to ignore when he could feel Plagg tugging at his hair and batting him lightly at the head. He'd even been having a good dream of Ladybug and warmth and the smell of cinnamon. Just to further dissuade him, he gradually became aware of just how  _sore_  he was.

"Just five more minutes Plagg." He grumbled sourly and nuzzled his face deeper into his pillow, wanting to bury himself. His arms wrapped around it tightly.

Wait a second.

His arms?

Adrien shot up like a bullet, missing the way he accidentally sent Plagg flying across the room. With wide eyes, Adrien pulled not paws but real human  _hands_  up to his face and wiggled his fingers to demonstrate to himself that yes, they were really there and he wasn't dreaming. He slammed them against his face.

Ouch. But there was no fur, only smooth surface. He continued to feel out his face: nose, eyes, mouth, ears...

Adrien scrambled out of bed so fast that he landed on the floor with a garbled thump but he just picked himself up and flew into his bathroom. He almost jumped at the sight of himself in the mirror- it was him!  _Really_  him! Familiar green eyes were shining back at him with a mixture of shock, disbelief, and glee.

"Plagg!" He shouted. "I'm- I turned back!"

Glowering from being flung so unceremoniously across the room, his very disgruntled kwami floated over to him. "Yes I've already noticed that." He grumbled bitterly.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

Plagg scoffed, "I've only been trying to for hours! You must've been really exhausted."

Adrien finally noticed the sun shining high in the sky and his eyes darted to his bedside clock in alarm. "It's already  _this late!?_ Plagg-"

Plagg crossed his arms and flopped onto a pillow dramatically. "Look, you were already changed back this morning when your alarm went off and I tried to wake you up then, but you were dead to the world. Someone even came to check on you, but when it was clear you weren't going to budge they finally left. They even brought you that." He gestured to a silver tray with what appeared to be a bowl of soup. "But while you've been snoozing the day away, I'm the one who's been starving here and then when you finally wake up, you hit me across the room!"  

Adrien winced apologetically, but his mind was still whirling. "Sorry about that Plagg. Would some cheese help?"

The little black glutton who wasn't even trying to be subtle about his pouting instantly perked, whizzing excitedly.  _"Yes!_ "

After fetching a piece from the emergency stash he kept for him in his room, Adrien carried over a now-distracted Plagg back to his bed and plopped down.

"Ah, my precious camembert. I never thought I'd see you again!" Plagg cooed, stroking the cheese lovingly. Adrien rolled his eyes.

"Sometimes I wonder if nothing else goes on in that head of yours." Adrien muttered but left Plagg to inspect the silver tray that had been brought. The soup was already cool to the touch, but he was more interested in the piece of paper left beside it. A brief note had been scribbled down, but the familiar elegant script was still legible.

"Your appointments for the day have been canceled. Your father would like you to focus on resting . The soup should help you regain strength -N." Adrien read out loud, the surprise evident in his voice.

Perplexed, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been given a day off. Sure he had days with no appointments, but he definitely hadn't had them canceled before with such little fuss. Nathalie must have thought he was really sick or had realized just how fatigued he'd been, especially if Plagg was right about them not being able to wake him up. If anything, he was touched and found himself wondering if his father had been the one to cancel his appointments. It was the little things, he thought with a tiny smile.

But as unexpected and uncharacteristically kind as this was, he couldn't just lay in bed the rest of the day. To be honest, he was still tired and not to mention unbelievably sore which was something he hadn't been in a long time. It must have been from all that climbing and moving around as a cat last night, he thought with a frown. His arms and legs ached in protest when he stood up.

"I guess the Leopard King's attack ran out just after a couple of hours." Adrien said. "Which takes care of one major problem, but we have to go to Marinette's!"

"Huh?" Plagg asked around a mouthful of cheese. "That's the girl behind you in class, right? Why do we have to go there?"

"Because she has the miraculous." He began to move about, searching for new clothes, as he gave Plagg the short version of what had happened last night while intentionally leaving out all the embarrassing details. He wouldn't put it past Plagg to tease him about it.

Plagg actually put his cheese down.

"Wait, so you woke up with her?" Plagg asked slowly. Adrien arched a brow at him. He didn't know what to make of his kwami's tone. To be frank, he couldn't tell why he really even cared but he could see some kind of gears turning in his head. Then something must've clicked because Plagg started to snigger. "Oh.  _Oh._ "

"Yeah, that's what I said. What?" Adrien asked suspiciously but the tiny creature just shook his head. He didn't trust the wicked grin for a second.

"Nothing." Plagg waved him away, picking up his cheese again. "So what do we do now?"

"Like I said, we have to go and get the miraculous." Adrien said.

"And how exactly are we going to do that?"

"One thing at a time. Now, come on." Adrien was already moving out the door, lifting open his shirt and gesturing for Plagg to follow who rolled his eyes and huffed. They did have to get the ring back as soon as possible though so he didn't put up a fuss and flew straight into the little inside pocket.

Adrien tried to be quick, but just as he reached the front door he was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder and he internally grimaced, turning to face his captor. Nathalie stared at him sternly, her eyes steely behind her glasses.

"Where do you think you're going Adrien?" She removed her hand, but shifted her body so she was blocking the door a bit more. Suppressing his anxiety so it wouldn't show, he plastered a well-practiced smile on his face.  

"Oh, hey Nathalie." He said innocently. "Thanks for letting me sleep today. I didn't realize I was that tired, but I'm good now. I was thinking that I should go see my classmate so I don't fall behind on school work or anything, so I really need to go-"

"Absolutely not." Nathalie shut him down, frowning with thinly pursed lips. "You've obviously overworked yourself. Mr. Agreste sends his regards and has instructed me to tend to you for the day and see to it that you get proper rest. Which includes not going anywhere."

"But I feel much better!" Adrien tried acting springy and energetic but his face twitched at the deep ache in his muscles when he tried waving his hands in a demonstration of his recovery. One of Nathalie's eyebrows slid up into a skeptical arch.

"If you're truly that concerned about your work, I will have it sent for you. Now back to bed." There was no waver in her voice. Her command was absolute.

Adrien grit his teeth behind closed lips. He fully understood that this was Nathalie and his father acting on his behalf because they were worried about him, but why did it have to be  _now_?

He allowed Nathalie to steer him back to his room though he continued to protest most of the way. She just ignored him though and only until she saw to it that he was sitting back on his bed and had given him an awkward pat did she tell him that it was for his own good.

"That backfired pretty quickly." Plagg muttered after she'd left. Adrien sighed in agreement. This was also another reason why he desperately needed his miraculous back. Otherwise he'd have to say goodbye to his freedom. He glanced longingly at the window where as Chat, he'd be able to get out and about within seconds.

"Alright, take two." Adrien said determinedly. This time, he carefully arranged his pillows under his bed sheets in the hope that anyone who might come to check on him would see the lump and mistake it as him sleeping. Besides, getting the miraculous back was much more important over the risk of being caught. Or so he hoped.

Tapping into his inner Chat, he stealthily made his way back down again which proved to be a slow and tedious task, but when the front door clicked silently close behind him and he was officially out without being heard or seen, he let out a big sigh of relief. He bid Nathalie a silent apology because if he was caught, she would surely get in trouble which was all the more reason for him to hurry and get it and himself back.

Very thankful for his human legs, Adrien sped to Marinette's family bakery. He paused outside, glancing towards the roof. He hadn't thought this far, only knowing that he had to get here. What was he even going to say to her?  _Hey Marinette, I was wondering if I could go into your room because I think you have something that I lost yesterday which I feel like you might have?_  Yeah, okay Adrien.

He entered the bakery nervously, almost embarrassed. On top of not knowing what he was even going to say, it was mostly because he was going to have to face Marinette again after yesterday. Of course she didn't know that it had been him, but  _he_ knew and it was enough for his face to flush.

He approached the counter where he could see a woman rummaging around in the back, calling out that she'd be with him in a moment. He nodded and bided his time by staring at all the pastries in the window.

"Of  _course_ she lives in a bakery. Is that cheese bread I smell?" Plagg poked his head out curiously and Adrien sucked in a loud breath of surprise, eyes shooting towards the woman who was just beginning to turn around. He tucked his shirt closer around him, pressing against Plagg.

"Shh!" He hissed at him just as the woman made it back to the register. She smiled kindly at him and he knew instantly that she must have been Marinette's mother.

"Can I help you young man?" Sabine asked.

"Yes, hello, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng," Adrien stumbled over his words, flustered from Plagg's near slip up, but continued politely, "I'm sorry to bother you, but is Marinette home? I need to, uh, ask her about something. For school." He finished choppily, slapping himself internally. He could feel Plagg just shaking his head against him.

Sabine blinked, lightly scrutinizing him. "What was your name dear?" She asked curiously, but not unkindly.

"Oh!" Adrien flushed. "I'm sorry, my name is Adrien Agreste. I'm Marinette's classmate." So much for being cool and collected. There was no reason for him to be nervous, but now he was worried that he'd already rubbed her the wrong way and was about to be asked to leave. However, that did not happen.

Sabine's mouth rounded into a small  _O_ , and a flash of recognition crossed her face. Her eyes even lit up into a twinkle and she began to giggle at the obviously confused expression that had formed on his face.

"Ah, of course!" She said warmly and laughed behind a small hand. She easily steered him behind the counter. "Unfortunately I just sent Marinette out on an errand, but she should be back soon. In the mean time, why don't you go on up sweetie? I'll just be here if you need anything." She had given him a gentle push, pointing to the trap door up the stairs.

"T-thank you!" He said quickly but she had already gone back down when the bell had chimed to signal the arrival of a customer.

What had that been about? She seemed to recognize him... maybe from some of his posters? Or maybe Marinette happened to mention him? He shrugged to himself. Regardless, this was actually perfect, he thought as he bee lined for the stairs. Maybe he could even get his ring and leave before she even came back.

Once he was inside, he didn't waste time and ran straight for the box. It was right where it had been left the night before.

He tried to ignore the uneasy guilt gnawing at his insides. As Adrien and even Chat Noir, he was first and foremost a gentleman and to be in her room without her even there made him feel uncomfortable, though he had been here just the night before. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

"What, you didn't even get me some cheese bread?" Plagg asked indignantly, flying out of Adrien's pocket to get a better look at the box. Adrien picked it up, inspecting it from all sides.

"I'll get you some later, after we're out of this mess." He promised. "Right now we just need to focus on getting this open." He really didn't want to have to break it, but as he grabbed the lid and tried to pry it open it just wouldn't budge.

It was so close, but still so far. Why was fate so cruel?

"Plagg," Adrien said suddenly, turning to his partner. "Can you fly into it and try to open it from the inside?"

"Hmm," Plagg tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I can do it. Only, I expect twocheese breads later then, thank you very much. No wait,  _three_. "

" _Plagg_."

"Okay, I'm going!" He grumbled and phased into the box.

"Any luck?" Adrien asked after a few moments. He could feel Plagg shuffling around in the small box. He spared a moment to pop his head out to shoot Adrien a look.

"You're asking  _me_?" was all he said and went back down to try again.

"Good point." Adrien muttered. He could hear Plagg whining in frustration and when it became increasingly apparent that he wasn't going to be able to open it without force, Adrien sighed miserably. "Maybe it would be better to go out looking for Ladybug to help us out instead?"

Before Plagg could answer, Adrien had had a firm hold on the box until he jumped almost a foot in the air when there was something of a loud shriek from below. The moment Adrien whirled around, the box slipped from his hands and clattered loudly to the ground when he was engulfed in a very familiar cloud of smoke.

Oh  _no._

_Oh no._ Adrien chanted quietly over and over, until he realized he was meowing.

_WHAT!_  Adrien clawed at the air in agony.  _I'm a cat AGAIN?! How the-_

"Uh, Adrien-" Plagg was rubbing the back of his neck as he phased out of the box, but at the rapidly approaching sound of footsteps, Adrien pounced on his head, squashing him back down just as two bodies lurched through the open trapdoor.

Marinette was panting heavily as if she'd just run a marathon, looking panicked. Alya who was much more calm was right behind her and seemed more excited and curious than anything. Their heads swiveled wildly around but after a moment pure confusion flooded their faces.

Alya turned to Marinette with a shrug. "He probably just got tired of waiting. Your mom must have just missed him leaving?" She suggested.

Marinette's face mirrored the color of her room as she garbled incoherently. Alya sighed, patting her friend's back comfortingly with a humorous smile. "Words, Marinette. Use your words."

"I can't believe this." Marinette finally choked out. "He was  _here_  Alya. What if he saw-"

"There there." Alya said quickly. "Maybe he didn't!" Adrien didn't miss the twinge of doubt in her voice, but Marinette seemed too out of it to catch it.

"Well," Marinette started nervously, but her eyes shone with concern. "I hope he was feeling okay enough to come all the way here. Nino said that he hadn't heard from him all day but when he tried to visit, they said that he was recovering from exhaustion. I had no idea that he was working so hard."

Alya grinned at her. "Maybe you should make him a get-well gift?"

"Yeah, maybe..." Marinette trailed off.

Adrien had stayed perfectly still, paws still on top of the box, hyperaware that Plagg was just beneath the surface. Not only was he reeling from the fact that he'd turned back into a cat, but now this was the cherry on top. As quietly as he could, he murmured to Plagg to not make a noise or move a muscle, which of course came out as meowing.

"Huh?" Marinette's eyes darted to the soft sound and her eyes widened as they came to meet his.

"It's you!" She gasped softly in surprise. There was still color in her face, but it began to settle as she calmed down."How did you even get in here? Did I leave the window open?" She asked mostly to herself but Adrien was already spooked by the way Alya suddenly charged at him. He was swept up and crushed against her chest in one swift motion.

"How adorable! Since when did you get a cat?" Alya gushed excitedly.

Marinette shushed her as she closed the trap door behind them. "Not so loud! I don't think my mom would be very happy if she knew we had a cat in here. He's not actually mine though, I just found him outside in the rain yesterday and brought him home for the night."  

Alya cuddled him tightly despite his protest and he wiggled around in her arms until he was able to launch himself away to the closest escape which was directly into Marinette's arms. She caught him easily, though surprised, and held him gently which he found much more comfortable.

"Aww." Alya cooed happily, not offended. "He already really likes you!"

Adrien flushed brightly and was about to jump out of Marinette's arms too but then she shrugged, smiling, and started petting him. He couldn't deny how nice it felt so he grudgingly stayed put. She glanced at the fallen box curiously and regarded him with a half-grin. "What is it with you and my box?"

_Please don't open it. Please don't open it._ Adrien watched with bated breath while sweating buckets as she bent to pick it up, but she merely set it back in its proper place on the desk. Plagg was safe for now, but he could only hope that he wouldn't get too restless for however long he would have to stay in there.

"Alright, I guess we should crack down on some homework now?" Alya said, raising her bag. Marinette groaned, but reluctantly agreed.

Marinette went to sneak him some more snacks and he wrinkled his nose at the cheese once again, but what he found suspicious was the way she had come up with her hand behind her back. He eyed it warily while she merely smiled innocently at him.

So that was how he found himself stuck in her room  _again._ Until they left, he wouldn't be able to even get Plagg somewhere better, but it was no good. Marinette and Alya were camped out on the floor, papers and books strewn out as they began to work diligently for the most part. There was no way he would be able to lead Plagg anywhere.

He stubbornly stayed put when Alya beckoned him over at first and sent a glare in her direction, feeling only the tiniest twinge of guilt when a small frown marred her face. Eventually he did give in and reluctantly pattered over to let her coddle him. If he had felt helpless before, now he was just feeling trapped and even worse, Plagg must be dying by this point. He'd been stuck in the cramped box for what was becoming hours. He was going to kill him if he didn't save him soon, or probably demand even more stinky cheese. He was already moping just thinking about it.

But all thoughts halted in his mind when he saw a quick flash, his eyes flicking sharply with it. It had been so fast he almost thought he imagined it, but then he saw it again and immediately whirled around.  _What was that? Where'd it go?_  And then he saw it flicker out of the corner of his eyes and he froze.

There a few feet away from him, a tiny red dot vibrated slightly. He remained still, scared that if he tried to move it might dart away again.  _No sudden movements._  He raised a tentative paw and slowly inched it over.  _Nice and easy_.

The dot scattered away and Adrien was on his feet scampering right after it. It slithered back and forth, up the wall, down the wall, and back up again; Adrien pounced against it repeatedly, trying his best to catch it in mid-air. It circled around him, but he was determined and spun in circles, yowling in frustration as it always seemed to be just out of his grasp.

He crouched low to the ground and eyed it sharply as it danced around, mocking him. He could hear sniggering in the background but he didn't want to risk taking his eyes off of his new adversary. He watched it move slowly across the floor as if teasing him as it came closer, but he wasn't going to fall for its simple tricks. Patience would win him this battle.

It was inches away now and he trembled with anticipation.  _Just a little bit closer... IT'S MINE._

Adrien tackled it, sliding across the ground but crying triumphantly. Ha! He'd caught the little red fiend without a doubt. His paws were flat on the floor, keeping it trapped, but eager to see his defeated foe he peeked under excitedly.

His face dropped, eyes bugging in confusion when there was nothing there, ears pressed close to his head.

Then there was the guffaw of laughter as both girls peeled over causing Adrien to jump in alarm. Alya was rolling while Marinette was clutching her side as she bent over and that's when he saw it in her grip. In her fingers, she was holding a small cylindrical device which he recognized immediately. A laser pointer.

"I'm sorry kitty." Marinette wiped a tear away, giggling quietly. "Don't be mad. Come here." She pat her lap invitingly but Adrien turned away and slumped on his side in defeat, wanting nothing more than to melt through the floor.

_Just leave me to die._  He meowed pathetically, knowing that they wouldn't understand anyways. He yelped when he felt warm hands catch him around the middle and drag him backwards. Marinette laughed as she pulled him straight into her lap, moving her head over him. Adrien watched her with big green eyes, stunned. The soft smile she was sending him made his heart flip a little, her blue eyes twinkling mischievously but gently. He'd never noticed just how pretty his classmate was.

He had to get a grip! That's what he told himself at least, as he started purring softly from her pets. If only she and Alya knew it was him... which was obviously  _never going to happen_ , which went without saying. It was going to be bad enough to deal when Ladybug found out. She was probably never going to let him hear the end of it.

But at least nothing disastrous had happened yet, he resigned. The akuma still hadn't come back as far as he could tell and the pets weren't so horrible either. Also, he got to learn a little more about Marinette. She was much more funny and goofy than he'd thought as he continued watching with interest as the girls chatted and bickered playfully. She didn't seem shy at all. It only made him more determined than ever to try and get to know her after he was done with this whole mess. Which he didn't really know why he was still in. He had changed back so shouldn't this have all been over?

In hind sight, if he had changed a moment later they would have seen him turn into a cat and who knows what would have happened, but that still didn't explain anything.

He glanced curiously out a window, noting that the sun had set a while ago. He'd changed around this time the day before too right? Maybe that's what had triggered it, though he couldn't be sure. He frowned. Did that mean he would keep changing back and forth until they got the Leopard King?

"Oh, it's that time already?" Alya checked her phone. She leaned the ladybug charm dangling from her phone enticingly over him and smirked when he reached to swat at it. "I guess I should get going. I'm all schooled out for the day."

"Yeah, me too." Marinette agreed from the floor, scooping him up in her arms once again as she stood up. Alya rubbed his head and he granted her an appreciative purr.

"Do you think he'll be back tomorrow? I can bring some toys for him." Alya exclaimed cheerfully.

"You don't have to do that Alya!" Marinette waved her hand. "He might not."

"You've already fed him, so I think you're stuck with him for good. He'll just keep coming back for more." She winked at him and started speaking as if she were talking to a baby. "I think this stray has already found his home, hasn't he? Oh, you should give him a name!"

"A name?" Marinette tapped her chin softly in thought, unsure. "I don't know. If I named him, then there's no way I wouldn't get attached."

"Like you're not already?" Alya laughed.

Marinette shrugged with a small smile. "He responds to kitty just fine, so I'll probably just keep it at that for now."

"If you insist, girl." Alya hugged her friend softly so she wouldn't crush him and scratched him affectionately between the ears one last time before gathering her things and heading out. "I'll bring some stuff tomorrow just in case."

Marinette just shook her head even as the trap door closed and Alya vanished. "Hear that? Looks like you're about to get spoiled."

She bopped his nose which he wiggled in protest. "Your eyes really  _are_  a pretty green." She murmured thoughtfully. "Which reminds me."

She dropped him off on the chaise and he twisted around to watch her curiously as she rummaged around through a small set of drawers on her desk. After a few moments she let out a small "Aha!"  and he heard a small jingle as she messed with something in her hands, holding it up once she had finished.

She returned to his side with a twinkle in her eye and eagerly held it up for him to see with both hands and a light laugh. She was holding a thin black ribbon where a bell had been threaded and knotted in the middle.  He didn't put up a fuss as she drew it around his neck and tied it loosely so it wouldn't hurt him. When he turned to look at her in surprise, the bell jingled lightly.

"Now you look just like Chat Noir!" She grinned. Adrien jolted as if he'd been shocked. This was like the universe laughing at him or something. Of all the people to think of-

"Hey Tikki, what do you think?"

A little red figure popped its head out of her purse and his eyes grew as big as saucers. Skeptical large eyes trained on him and in a flash she had darted up and out, quickly zooming behind Marinette's shoulder. She peeked around it and grimaced down at him. "Marinette..."

Marinette just patted her little head. "Again, I promise he's not going to eat you Tikki. Now come on out and say hello." Tikki crossed her arms over her chest in a little pout, but she did float out, albeit hesitantly, a little closer but still well out of his reach. Marinette cupped her in her hands.

"Tikki meet Chat Noir!" Marinette giggled, clearly entertained.

"Ha ha." Tikki huffed, not as amused, but she relaxed the longer it became apparent that he wasn't going to attack her, the both of them unaware that said cat had gone  _slightly_  catatonic.

Tikki turned towards her charge. "Speaking of Chat Noir..."

Marinette straightened up, nodding, and her expression became serious. "Yes, I know. We should go now." She then turned to Adrien and winked slyly, raising a finger to her lips. "Can you keep a secret, kitty?"

There was a stunning flash of red silvery light and Adrien could only stare, oblivious to how all feeling seemed to leave his body, as  _Ladybug_  suddenly stood in front of him and nimbly leapt towards the window above her bed without a second thought. Outside, she propped the window open and glanced down at him with a smile.

"I'll leave the window open just in case you want to go out. Bye for now kitty, I'll be back." She said and then vanished a second later, swinging off into the night.

It could've been seconds or minutes or hours later, Adrien wouldn't be able to say, but he was still staring at the same spot when Plagg finally phased out of the box, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He yawned and stretched as he floated over to his side.

"That was a good nap. How long have they been gone? Why didn't you wake me up? Oh, cheese!" He chattered excitedly, rushing to pick up the cheese that Marinette had brought up earlier and took a hearty munch. He blinked at Adrien in confusion once he realized that his mouth was gaping open and closed.

"So... what did I miss?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrien. exe appears to not be responding.   
> (pfft catatonic... I didn't notice this pun until I was looking the chapter over)
> 
> I'm sorry for the long wait! I've just been busy with the holidays. Also, I hope all of you are having a great one! 
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter, especially Adrien and the laser. His cat instincts just kicked in. I felt a little evil, but I couldn't resist muahaha!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cat's out of the bag! And you know what they say about curiosity...

Marinette was Ladybug?

Marinette was Ladybug.

_Marinette is LADYBUG?!_

Practically having a field day, Plagg rolled through the air with laughter while Adrien's short-circuited brain was experiencing something not unlike a meltdown. He'd only been able to stutter out a couple of words but Plagg had pieced the situation together quickly and was lamenting over the fact that he couldn't have woken up several minutes earlier so he could see it happen.

 Adrien was deaf to his chatter. Every time he opened his mouth, he'd sputter and close it back up. His head was spinning as the pieces fit together at alarming speeds.

_But how?_  Marinette was shy and quiet and Ladybug... well, wasn't! Or at least he'd thought so, but it was with shock that he realized how easily the two meshed together, how perfectly they fit. How had he not seen it before? The hair style alone... He'd always assumed it had been a mere style choice as a fan, but he hadn't been more wrong. Then to top it off with the fact that he'd seen it with his own eyes moments before.

He'd always been so sure and confident in his ability to pick out his Lady in a crowd in a heartbeat. But she hadn't been in a crowd, she'd been in his _class_ and right behind him almost every day no less. He thought he knew Ladybug, but could it be that he actually didn't know her at all? He'd obviously missed _something_.

"Stop pacing Adrien. You're making me anxious." Plagg bopped Adrien's head. He hadn't even realized he had been pacing. He sat tightly down but couldn't repress the agitated swish of his tail. Plagg shook his head. "It's too bad. I thought I would get to have a little more fun before you figured it out. Tikki's going to have a fit that I won the bet this time though."

Adrien's neck craned mechanically towards the tiny creature. His eye twitched.

_You...knew?_   _And **what** bet? _He whispered calmly with clear effort. Tikki was Marinette's kwami, that's what she'd called her. Yes, that was right. He was calm, cool, and collected. Everything was _peachy_.

"To be fair, I was only sure today, and we always make a bet of who discovers the other first. It's been forever since I've won! But NEVER have I won like this before." Plagg said with a grin so huge Adrien could fully see his fangs. "What's with you? I thought this was what you wanted. Shouldn't this be the best day of your life or something?"

Was this the best day of his life? It was starting to feel like the worst. No, that wasn't right. What exactly was it? He was ecstatic. But he was also freaking out. Maybe?

In conclusion, he had absolutely no idea.

For the longest time, he had wanted nothing more than to find out who Ladybug was but never in a million years had he imagined he'd be finding out like...like _this_. And to top it off, that it would be _Marinette_! Sweet, shy Marinette who couldn't even look him in the eye for over five minutes was the confident and fearless Ladybug...

Every moment from the past 48 hours spent with her flashed through his mind: the cuddling, the petting, the fawning... every time his heart would flip a little, every time she had been close. Cheeks on fire, he groaned out loud. Marinette... his _Lady_... it had been her the _whole time_.

He'd thought he was feeling embarrassed before? HA.

Then he shot up in a flurry of hysteria as a thought crossed his mind. Wait a minute. Could it be that she actually knew he was Chat Noir when he was just Adrien? Was that the reason why she always shied away from him? Because she didn't like him _that_ much?

Plagg guffawed. "Well, look what we have here." The little black kwami had taken to nosily exploring the room, leaving Adrien who was well on his way down a shame spiral and who he believed was being unnecessarily dramatic, but he'd come to stop at the far corner of Marinette's desk. Adrien peeked his head up, his curiosity winning over his desire to continue moping.

Adrien cautiously crept over to Plagg who was even going so far as to wipe a faux tear from his face. He leapt up onto the desk, finally noticing what Plagg was looking at it.

"Oh man, this is rich!" Plagg chortled as Adrien stared, mouth once again dropping open.

It was his face. Well... that was a bit of an understatement. It was a _lot_ of his face. Pictures from shoots and magazines littered the wall. There were several other pictures of her with friends and her parents, but his far outnumbered theirs. He followed the trail of them in sheer disbelief, walking slowly. They flowed even onto the wall behind her computer. How had he possibly missed these before?

 Looking closely he could see a few arrows and notes pointing to different pieces of his clothing but mostly there were little doodled hearts all over.

Now, Adrien could admit that he could be slow on the uptake for some things, but he wasn't completely stupid.

Plagg flew by his face to look, accidentally sending Adrien back a couple of steps and on top of  Marinette's keyboard. The screen flashed as it came out of sleep mode and... He grew brilliantly hot.

_Oh my god._

Plagg sounded like he was about to choke he was laughing so hard. "Wow! She's just as crazy about you as you are for Ladybug!"

_Oh my god._ He repeated intelligently.

"You're actually really dense, huh?" Plagg said with a sympathetic pat on his head as if he were making a casual remark on the weather. Adrien's mouth opened to immediately retort, paused, then closed it. Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to disagree. Neither could he bring himself to tear his eyes away from the ( _very pink_ ) desktop collage of himself, complete with curly hearts.

Okay... so she definitely did _not_ know that he was Chat Noir.

Plagg rubbed his little paws together. "Now all we have to do is wait for them to get back! I can't wait to see the look on their faces."

Adrien spun around so fast Plagg had to jump back to avoid his tail almost whipping him.

_NO._

"What?"

_We can't tell her._ Adrien arched, screeching. His eyes were wide and his tail was poofy, his heart pounding a mile a minute. He still felt the heat strong on his cheeks though it couldn't be seen.

Plagg frowned, staring at him in disbelief. "Why not? Wasn't the plan to tell Ladybug so she could fix this? I mean, how lucky could we get? For _us,_ no less!"

Lucky? LUCKY?!

_We **can't tell her**. _ He repeated firmly, but there was so much more in his head that he wasn't saying out loud. If they told her, then she'd find out.  Duh. He knew he couldn't keep this from her for long but he wasn't ready! He needed time to process everything a little and maybe time to think of what exactly to tell her when the inevitable happened. And it wasn't even just that.

He knew just how important Ladybug's secret identity was to her. Even if it had been a horrible accident,  he felt himself sweating at the thought of her finding out that he'd discovered it against her will. He swallowed heavily, sinking down  and squashing his eyes with his paws. His ears pressed flat against his head.

_Oh my god. I'm screwed..._

Before Plagg could respond he paused and his eyes flickered away, a look concentration crossing his face. "Oh, speak of the devil... Ladybug's trying to get in touch."

Adrien lifted a paw to pop open an eye to shoot him an unimpressed look. _Even if I wanted to, it's not like I can!_  Rising to sit on his hind legs, he flailed his paws around in emphasis.

"Good point." Plagg said, crossing his arms. "Also, about the miraculous... Yeah, it's not going anywhere. We're going to need her to unlock it. So face it lover boy," Plagg quipped and Adrien was sure steam must've been puffing out of his ears at this point. "We don't have a choice. We're going to have to tell her."

Adrien sat quietly for a couple of seconds, thinking. Then shook his head firmly.

_No. We just have think of something else._ He said decisively, avoiding Plagg's skeptical gaze. _Besides, what safer place is it than with Ladybug?_ He said in his defense. He was well aware that he was being difficult and dimly aware that he was being _mildly_ irresponsible but the very idea of telling her when she got back made him so nervous his belly was already flip-flopping. _At the first sign of the akuma coming back, THEN we'll tell her. I promise._

Plagg rolled his eyes at the excuse but just shrugged. "Whatever. Who am I to say no to an extended holiday?" This was quickly turning into the best entertainment he'd had in a long time after all. He fixed a mischievous grin on Adrien. "Don't you think for a second I'm going to forget about those cheese breads you owe me too. I think I'll need to be adding interest as well until I get them. I'm thinking one cheese bread per day..."

Adrien held in a groan. _I think you have a problem, Plagg. But let's go now before she comes back. Otherwise, you're not getting anything!_

~.~.~.~.~

Though it was still a little bizarre to go to sleep as a cat then wake up as normal, it still came as a relief. It also confirmed that he seemed to reset back in the morning for some reason though he knew he couldn't get too comfortable since he had little doubt he would be changing back sometime later.

When they'd gotten home last night, Plagg and he had agreed after a brief discussion that he should refrain from attending school until they had this whole mess sorted out. That way there wasn't any risk of him changing spontaneously at some point in time in front of all his classmates or in public. _Or mostly Marinette_ , a small part of his brain quietly supplied before he could squash it down and stop it.

Inevitably, his mind turned over to the train of thought which was all the same as he basically hadn't been able to shake her from his head for hours. If he went, it would also mean seeing her and his face burned hot at the thought. He had to keep reminding himself that she still had no idea so he should calm down, but how on Earth could he stay calm? He'd been in constant turmoil as he still didn't know how he felt about  it all... that supposedly Ladybug, the love of his life, was Marinette. And that Ladybug didn't like Chat Noir but Ladybug was Marinette, who undeniably liked Adrien- _him_ \- who was also... Chat Noir.

Now his head hurt.

He'd been hoping that sleeping on it would help his head cool down a little, but 1) his mind had been buzzing with thoughts of Marinette and his Lady non-stop so he was surprised he'd woken up at all as he didn't remember falling asleep and 2) it had after he'd finally dozed, but as soon as he'd woken up he was flailing all over the place again. He rolled back and forth across his bed, muffling his face in his pillow.

Now it was just a matter of time before he could go see her. He hadn't realized he'd already decided to go back till this moment, but he didn't dwell on the thought though Plagg shot him a knowing look at his reddening face. They were just waiting now.

 Nathalie had already come to check on him and he'd successfully played off a good little sick boy and she'd easily taken the bate, immediately chiding him on the fact that getting out of bed yesterday probably didn't help any. He'd mournfully agreed with a well-timed groan. He felt bad for the act, but it had to be done.

A little later, Adrien was pacing as Plagg suddenly said. "You know what I think? I think you don't want to tell her because you just want to be spoiled. Admit it, you like all the attention!"

"That's not true! I do not want to be-"

Though he was expecting it this time, it was still disorienting to go from two legs to four in an instant. Even the bell had reappeared with this form and it jingled heartily as he landed on his feet.  

_-spoiled._ He finished with a sigh and muttered mostly to himself. _A little warning would be appreciated..._

Besides, he didn't want to disappoint her or anything and not come back. That's what he was telling himself at least. He sauntered over to the window, beckoning Plagg with his tail.

"And where exactly are we going?" Plagg drawled.

_To Marinette's..._ Adrien mumbled, looking away from Plagg.

"And what am I supposed to do? Since I'm not allowed to spill the beans yet and all." Plagg put his paws on his hips, smirking. He was enjoying this, the little termite!

**_You_ ** _will stay **hidden**. That way, if there's any sign of trouble you can come out right away but otherwise you can keep out of sight._

"Why should I?" Plagg pouted. "That sounds so boring."

Adrien paused, glancing at him with slit eyes. He was prepared for this; time for his trump card. _If you check in the desk drawer, you'll find a whole wheel of camembert. And there's more where that came from if you behave._

Plagg's eyes widened and he started muttering, even as he backed up slowly. "How could you Adrien, using cheese against me like that. You think I'm so weak you can blackmail me with it?" And then he dropped the act, cackling with glee and zoomed over to the desk.

Adrien smirked and in moments they had slipped out of the window and were scampering off on the streets happily, Plagg hovering under his legs to keep out of sight. When they arrived, Adrien peeked between his legs at Plagg.

_From now on, you have to be quiet. You can't give them any hint that you're there. Promise me._

"It's not like I don't do this all the time when you're at school anyways!" Plagg shrugged but nodded.

_We should pick a codeword too, so you know if to come out._ Adrien meowed, maybe a little too excitedly.

"Uh, you know they can't understand you. So you can just tell me." Plagg said.

_Killjoy._

Luckily, he didn't have to go through Marinette's mother again and try to find an excuse this time. Then it hit him like a hammer and he would've smacked himself in the face if he could. The way her mother had treated him... she must've _known_. And he'd been so clueless. Flustered all over again, he sighed heavily but forced himself to focus on skirting up the edges of the wall which was mostly easy except when a stray pigeon flapped by and made him sneeze. Nose itchy, he cursed his lack of opposable thumbs not for the last time.

Approaching the top, his ears picked up familiar chattering and his heart leapt in a flurry. _No! I have to get it together!_ He had to keep cool, act normal...

"You're hopeless." Plagg whispered. Adrien swatted at him.

He crept upwards, jumping behind the brick wall that separated her balcony from the roof so they wouldn't see him and Plagg. He peeked around the edge. Marinette was facing away from him and even though she wasn't transformed, he could just _see_ Ladybug in her now. He'd watched that back so many times that he couldn't mistake it. There was a flash of red by her shoulder and Adrien realized it was her kwami, Tikki. He felt Plagg start beside him but he kept true to his promise and stayed quiet although Adrien was aware of just how bad Plagg was trying. 

Tikki seemed like she was trying assure her or something but Marinette just slumped across the rail. Adrien eyed the open window behind them.

_Okay, they're not paying attention so you should try to slip in now. If you can, head for the same box so I know where you are. I'll call you if I need you._

Plagg silently saluted him and Adrien purred gratefully. _Thanks buddy, you're the best._ They silently jumped to the other side and in a flash Plagg flew through the trap door successfully. Adrien watched him vanish with relief before turning his full attention on the girl in front of him. From the side, he could see her face was pinched with worry, her blue eyes swimming with melancholy. His heart squeezed with pain. Tikki was talking animatedly, flying around her face.

"-shouldn't overexert yourself. You couldn't even stay awake without napping in class today. You need to take your mind off things. Oh I know!" Tikki exclaimed happily. "Why don't you make Adrien that get-well gift you were talking about yesterday since he wasn't in class again?"

Marinette blinked then tapped her chin. "You know Tikki, I think I will. I did make a doodle today to go with his scarf.  It's been getting colder after all, so it'll be perfect timing."

Adrien felt a bubbling of emotions swelling inside him, suddenly ten times more nervous. She was talking about making a gift for him and he was filled with warmth. He couldn't even work his mouth to just make a little meow. How was he supposed to act around her again? No that was stupid thinking, he was a cat for goodness sake. But how should he be acting as a cat? Should he be acting slick? Cool? Cute? This was _his Lady_ for crying out loud, oh no, oh no this was a mistake, what had he been thinking _abort ABORT-_

A nearby flock of birds chose that precise moment to flutter past, shedding a good amount of feathers in doing so, promptly showering him. He fired off into a mini sneezing fit before he could even process what had happened.

_I HATE FEATHERS._

"What the-?" Adrien's eyes slowly slid up to find Marinette peering down at him in surprise, Tikki hovering curiously beside her. He didn't resist when she reached down to pick him up because the bright smile that had split her face had somehow turned his legs to jelly. How had he not seen it before? He absently thought again. It was Ladybug's smile... the one that never failed to warm him down to his toes.

The same breath-taking smile, the same glittering blue eyes...

"Hello you." She said, playfully poking his bell then scratching his ears which elicited a purr from him. She grabbed a stray feather and tickled him on his nose which he sneezed away. "Don't tell me you're allergic to feathers too? I didn't realize it was so common an allergy. Adrien's allergic too." Marinette said thoughtfully with an arched brow while Tikki laughed. "And so is Chat, now that I think about it." Adrien hoped he didn't look suspicious as he watched Tikki, who hadn't flown away, approach him slowly. He was careful not to make any sudden movements that would scare her away.

_Don't be suspicious. Don't be suspicious._ Adrien chanted quietly to himself but they didn't notice anything amiss about his chirping.

"Look Tikki, I think he likes you. Honestly, he looks more scared of you than you are of him!" Marinette giggled as Adrien had started patting the air around her curiously. Tikki cracked a smile and cautiously flew on top of his head.

"I guess he is kind of cute." She admitted.

_Victory._

"You're pretty early today though." Marinette said. "Oh wait, I know why you're here." Still holding him, she slid through the open window and dropped into her room, Tikki still perched atop his head. Adrien's eyes darted around as he checked for Plagg but was relieved when the coast was clear. As long as he stayed hidden then it was fine.  It was a good thing he was lazy like that. Or maybe he'd finally eaten so much cheese that he'd slipped into a food coma by now.

She set him down on the floor to pull out a small box which she'd stashed under her desk and proceeded to dump all its contents over the floor. Eyeing a particular item of interest, Adrien perked immediately.  

"Alya couldn't make it today, but look what she brought you." Marinette said excitedly and picked up a stick that had a little toy hanging from a string at the end. "Kitty? Huh?" She turned around to look for him. When she spotted him,  she slapped a hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter.

 "Oh my god."

Adrien inadvertently found himself peeking over the top of the cardboard box where he'd made himself quite comfortable in. The box couldn't actually hold all of him, his tail and back legs spilling out from behind, but it had seemed so comfy.

"Sure, all these new toys that Alya brought you are whatever but a box! Amazing!" Marinette gasped, mocking him fondly. "I shouldn't have expected any less. " Marinette dangled the toy over him anyways. He looked at it for a few seconds and feeling a little brave and mischievous he reached up a tentative paw to swat it.

_This is... kind of fun._ Before he knew it, he was rapidly pawing it back and forth. Timing a good pull, Marinette grinned as he found himself toppling over the box when he tried to reach for it. Tikki giggled, flying over him, holding another toy which he went for.

"Okay, you keep him busy Tikki. I won't finish Adrien's gift in time if I don't start now." Adrien temporarily paused mid stroke to peer at her curiously as she rummaged around in her bag, pulling out her sketch book. He had a mini battle inside himself. To look or not look? It was supposed to be a gift for him after all, he thought with a small blush. Unable to resist, he abandoned the toys and jumped on her desk to look.

He closed his eyes with pleasure as she scratched his chin, practically putty under her touch. Tikki fluttered beside her.  "What do you think Tikki?" After a moment her fingers stopped moving to flip to the page and he opened his eyes with disappointment but finally looked at the picture she'd drawn.

When she had said she was going to make him something, he was thinking maybe something from the bakery at best, but she was actually going to make _these_? For him? She'd drawn out a carefully designed pair of gloves, and though she had said it had been doodled he could already tell how detailed they were. He gazed at her with wonder, noting the way her eyes twinkled with excitement. He'd seen Ladybug in many situations and she'd looked at him in many different ways, but not once had he ever seen her look at him like _this_ before.

This was completely different.

And the thought that she could possibly be smiling like this because of _him_...

"Oh! They're so cute. I'm sure he'll love them!" Tikki chirped, perching herself on top of Adrien's head to look. She was completely right.

" What about you kitty? Think he'll like them?" Marinette leaned over to scratch under his chin again and he meowed enthusiastically.

He'd been wrong before. He _did_ know Ladybug:  they'd been through so much together that it was impossible that he didn't. He may not have known many details about her life as they didn't often chit chat and she had always been careful about giving anything away, but he was confident that he knew who she was as a person, at least to an extent. Ladybug was no longer just a figure behind a mask- she had a face and name to her now, and he was a fool to ever think there wasn't more behind it. Who was he to accuse her of acting differently when she wasn't Ladybug?

He knew Ladybug. Who he didn't know was Marinette.

But he _wanted_ to.

Just as much as Chat was a natural part of him, Ladybug was a part of her too and he wanted to learn more. So much more.

He wanted to get to know her and have her smile at him and laugh the laugh that sent his heart beating wildly as Adrien _and_ Chat. He wanted to know her likes, her dislikes. Everything.

This was a chance for him to get to know her as _her_. Not the girl who couldn't say a word around him, not the out-of-reach Ladybug, but the both of them together. The person she really was when no one else was looking.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, he thought absently, but there was no keeping him from coming back.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, Plagg. Lazy much! And Adrien just doesn't think when it comes to his Lady. Tsk tsk. 
> 
> I've read a lot of fics where Adrien reacts pretty calmly but I just have the personal headcanon that he would freak out as bad as Marinette probably would XD But that's just me! 
> 
> Thanks sooo much for reading!! I'm so glad you all are liking it so far! Stay tuned B)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adrien realizes that keeping the charade up for so long purrhaps wasn't such a good idea.

"Kitty."

Adrien raised a looming paw.

"Kitty  _no_."

The tension was palpable as Adrien's eyes remained locked with Marinette's, both refusing to avert their gaze and back down. She was the first to give, her hard stare flickering uncertainly in the hope of mercy, but it was all for naught. In one firm motion, he swatted his paw in a large and powerful sweep, promptly sending the blue ball of yarn flying across the room.

Marinette slumped and flung her arms in the air, throwing what little she had completed of the mittens down. "That's the  _fifth time_ already!" She groaned loudly, shooting him a nasty glare. Adrien turned away. He stubbornly refused to acknowledge her less he start regretting his petty actions, the inevitable guilt fighting to come out. Yet, he only squashed it down and continued to pout as she pushed back her chair in defeat to once again retrieve her ball of yarn.

He'd been delighted to find Marinette in her room that late morning when he'd come scratching at her window. It had been so early that she hadn't even left it open for him. When he peered inside he was pleasantly surprised to find her already bent over her work as she knit his gift, hands skillfully twisting and pulling on yarn. Adrien had leapt back with a yelp when Tikki suddenly flew up into his face,  giggling, as she was the first to notice him. Plagg had had to press himself flat against his back so she wouldn't see him while she unlocked the hatch.

After that mini-heart attack, Adrien figured some of her luck must have been rubbing off on him because she didn't even bat an eye or give any hint that she suspected anything wrong and merely floated back down to Marinette, allowing Adrien to sneak down in a way that kept Plagg hidden out of sight until he made it to the box. As before, Plagg didn't say a word though he could feel his kwami shaking against him all the while with stifled laughter. At least Plagg seemed entertained by all this, Adrien thought dryly. It was out of the ordinary that he was humoring him so much, but he wasn't about to make a comment about it. If he hadn't been getting his own little kick out of this, there was no way Plagg would be so indulging.  

It had been a slight gamble to come this early because it was the weekend and he hadn't known for sure what she'd be doing but if the way she was hunched over her work was any indication, she didn't seem to be planning to go anywhere. His heart had swelled happily. Like this, he could spend the whole day with her.

At least that's what he'd initially thought. He'd spent a good fifteen minutes sitting patiently in front of her, unable to control his tail which flickered back and forth in eager anticipation of her petting, but when she continued to focus on her project, only glancing up briefly every once in a while to check her design, it quickly became apparent that her focus was entirely on making the gloves. And since her focus was on the gloves, that meant one crucial thing as far as he was concerned. That it wasn't on  _him._

It had been like that for  _hours_ now and he couldn't take it anymore! Feeling dejected at first, he'd half-heartedly allowed Tikki to entertain him with some of his-no,  _the_  toys, which distracted him for a while (he swore that it was only to humor her,  _only that!_  ) but eventually the novelty had worn off and he was aching for pets.

Obviously, if he was in his right mind and not feeling just a little attention starved, he'd realize what  _exactly_  he was doing, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He had tried begging for attention in all ways civilly possible like meowing insistently at her to look at him, pawing her leg to the point where he was clinging so hard she had to shake him off, and then even going so far as to sit straight in her lap so she would at least  _look at_ him. But she was adamant about her work and expertly ignored him, barely reacting except for the occasional pat which were half-hearted at best.

Planting himself face down while mewing incoherently, Adrien was momentarily staggered as he was struck with just how well this situation could fit Chat Noir and Ladybug. It was laughable. Though at the same time not, he thought and looked up to stare at her with slit eyes.  

If anything, it was something he had learned about her: when Marinette committed, she became  _absorbed._  The fact that it came at his expense to the point where he felt invisible just wouldn't do though.

By that point he was so deprived of her affection that he may or may not have finally snapped and  _"_ accidentally" knocked  all the supplies off her desk with his tail. She'd just chuckled with a small sigh and shake of her head, but when she had been forced to put down her supplies and  _finally_  pet him properly it was almost pitiful how quickly he melted in bliss.

_Heaven..._ the stray thought floated up against his will and he'd flushed hotly except for moments later when she promptly drew away and returned to her task. Adrien blinked at her, mouth agape, as the pleasurable tingling that had barely had time to settle vanished immediately and was replaced with a very unsatisfied itch.  

_Alright then_. She wanted to play hard to get? Challenge accepted.

Thus he'd made it his mission to continue bugging the hell out of her.

Ha, bugging. He'd have to save that one for later...

"At this rate, I'm not going to be able to finish them by the end of the weekend and then it might not make sense to give it to him anymore." Marinette moped, setting the ball of yarn on her other side in a futile effort to keep it away from.  Tikki who had been watching the spectacle from the sidelines only giggled.

"Maybe this is a good time to take a little break? Plus, I'm a little hungry and I think he's bored." Tikki chirped, smiling in amusement. "You should know by now how needy cats are. You've been paying attention to that ball of yarn instead of him this whole time. I bet he's just jealous!"

Needy?  _Jealous_? That was ridiculous! He couldn't be jealous, which he  _definitely_  wasn't, as that just didn't make sense since that would mean he was jealous because he wasn't getting attention over... himself. Sort of. Jealous, yeah right. It just wasn't fair was all! He paused, taking a moment to sort it in his head. The bottom line was that he wasn't getting attention because Marinette was so focused on making a gift for him though he was right there.

Okay, maybe he was a little jealous... or a lot.  

How the hell had he gotten into this position? He thought sourly, glaring at the ball of yarn vehemently.

"I guess you're right, but let me finish this bit at least." Was what she said, shooting a wary glance in his direction, but as soon as Marinette made a few more stitches he could already tell she was being sucked right back in.  If she didn't put it down now, this would keep going on for the rest of the day!

In one final effort to get her to stop, Adrien shoved her notebook right off the edge.

He couldn't suppress the purr of triumph as Marinette, who didn't even bother glaring at him this time, just let out a big sigh of defeat. "OK, ok! Fine. He wins."

Tikki flew over to perch on his head, clicking her tongue even as a tiny grin tugged at her face in amusement. "Can you bring some cookies up Marinette?"

"Sure thing Tikki. I'm sorry for not feeding you. Maybe that's why he's so restless too. You're probably just hungry huh kitty?" When Marinette graced him with the first proper smile she'd given him that day and he was warmed down to his toes, it suddenly hit him all at once how deep he was getting himself.

_Too deep_ , he muttered weakly as he settled down. Damn, he was so,  _so_  screwed. In all ways. He just hoped that when she finally found out, she'd grace him with a swift death.

Marinette put down her needles and bent over to grab the fallen book. It had flipped open on its front and Adrien started to feel bad about pushing it over. He knew how much she drew in it and here he was just knocking it down to be annoying. But when she put it back on the desk, he was sucked out of the dreamy spell her smile had cast over him and froze stiff as if he'd been plunged into a bucket of icy water. He stared at the picture it had opened to.  

It was a drawing of a scarf. A very familiar looking scarf.  

His heart suddenly felt like it was being squeezed with an iron grip.

Unaware, she didn't even pause before flipping the book closed, shutting the picture away, but those few seconds had already done their damage. The image was burned into his mind and he was flooded with confusion. There was no mistake. That had been his scarf. It was identical, even shaded the exact color. The one that his  _father_  had supposedly given. But from what he'd just seen...

Adrien concentrated hard, thinking back to that day. Hadn't Marinette tried talking to him _?_ She'd been holding a blue box too, hadn't she... the very same one he'd found his scarf in.

He bolted up as it really sank in, pulling down his happy mood with it. His stomach, which had been fluttering lightly turned into an uncomfortable churning.  He needed to get Plagg. It was time to go. All he wanted to do was crawl under his covers and be alone and think.  

As this was going on in his head, Adrien wasn't aware of Marinette returning with a plate of goods for him and Tikki which she happily flew down to collect. So he almost scratched her on accident when he found himself being pulled into her lap.

"Hey now." She frowned, petting him gently. He instantly stilled, wide-eyed, and didn't move again.

Several minutes ago this had been the only thing he wanted from her today but now he only felt like he was burning beneath her touch. He could only hope she couldn't feel how hard his heart was beating.

"Hey Tikki, do you think maybe I should try to take Adrien something from the bakery? That'd be a good excuse to go see him, right?" Marinette said out loud.  

Adrien and his heart jolted simultaneously. No! That was a terrible idea! He was fully prepared to go ballistic to keep her from trying to leave, but fortunately Tikki saved the situation for him instead.  

"Maybe that wouldn't be a good idea Marinette." Tikki said. "What would you say to him? Hey Adrien, blah, uh, ah-" She continued to poorly imitate her stuttering until Marinette poked her gently.

"Hey! I'm not that bad..." Marinette protested but trailed off. She rested her head on her hands, elbows propped on the desk, and sighed. "Okay, maybe you're right, I am that bad. But I just can't help it. I just get all tongue tied, but what's a girl in love supposed to do?"

In love.

The words rattled around Adrien's head like a ping pong ball.

_In love._

"What do I do Tikki? If only I could get out a couple of words and talk like a normal person..." Marinette pressed the space bar on her keyboard, sighing dreamily when her desktop popped up. Then she glared at it.

She hugged him tightly to her chest. "Curse those beautiful eyes and that perfect hair and, and that heart melting smile!" Adrien tried not reacting to that, he really did, but he couldn't help it.  _She thinks I have beautiful eyes..._ This was too much for his poor heart. Did she  _want_ it to explode? "It's not my fault that he leaves me stuttering like an idiot. Besides, all I really want is to one day maybe be able to be proper friends with him."

A small lump settled in his throat. Did she not think that they were friends? It was almost funny. Until two days ago, he hadn't even realized that they were actually the best of friends, of course as Ladybug and Chat Noir. Everything was so flipped.

"Geez Marinette, you would think that you only like him for his looks!" Tikki joked. Adrien's ears drooped. As much as it hurt, Tikki wasn't breaking new ground. This wouldn't be the first time a person had fawned over him like this. Could it be that this whole 'crush' Marinette had on him was really just based on the fact that he was a model?

He had hoped so badly...

"You know that's not true Tikki!" He felt Marinette's grip tighten around him, an earnest look shining in her eyes. She actually seemed slightly offended. "I just... he's so sweet and kind. But I feel like there's something about him that's... a little lonely too. I don't know him that well, I admit, but I want to get to know him more. I want to be someone who can be there for him. Someone that he can rely on and trust."

A pink blush dusted her cheeks. "Like with his scarf. Of course I wanted him to know I had made it for him, but it made him so happy when he thought it was from his dad. I was sad, but I'd do anything if I could create that feeling for him again. Knowing that it was  _my_  gift that had made him smile like that... well, it made me happy too and for the moment, it's enough. And maybe one day... I'll be able to make him smile like that on my own. That's the dream anyway."

Tikki rested a gentle paw on her cheek. "Oh Marinette. Don't worry, he'll see who you really are one day. You're Ladybug! You can do anything you set your mind to!"

Marinette wilted, absently carding her fingers through his fur. "Sometimes I don't feel like Ladybug. When I'm her, I feel like I can be brave and do anything, but then when I'm not it's like reality comes back and I remember who I really am. Marinette, the clumsy awkward girl. " She paused. "Tikki, I  _love_  being Ladybug. I really do. But being her... it's never been about the person behind the mask. It's about the mask itself. She's always been a symbol: one of hope and peace, a pillar of strength for people. Ladybug is all that, and I'm proud and honored to be able to play that role but peel back all the glory and there's only... me."

"Marinette..." Tikki's big eyes gazed sadly at her charge.

Adrien had remained quiet in her arms, but he rubbed his head gently against her stomach as he was unable to offer anything else. Because everything she was saying wasn't true at all.

Marinette shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get so down. You know I've just been worried with everything going on."

"I know. But you know none of that's true Marinette." Tikki said and spread her arms to cup her face in a tiny hug.

"Thanks Tikki." She leaned over to give the little kwami a peck on her head. Marinette took a deep breath, then smiled down at Adrien in her arms. "Don't think I've forgotten about you either, little man."

She kissed him gently on the nose.

Adrien's heart stopped, but Marinette just looked up as if she hadn't just made him explode inside. "Alright, I should get back to work now. These aren't going to knit themselves you know. It'd be good to get more done before we go out again too."

"You just have to remember to sign your name this time." Tikki said lightly, plopping again onto his head, but there was an uneasiness to her voice that only Adrien caught. But she didn't say anything more.

He didn't interrupt her much after that, choosing to quietly watch her while snuggling with Tikki who patted him in Marinette's absence instead. He stayed right up to the point where Ladybug leapt out the window thought it wasn't even quite dark yet. She had been anxious to go as soon as possible.

Plagg floated out of the box once she was gone. He was surprisingly quiet instead of complaining like Adrien had been expecting him too. Mostly lost in thought, they went home in an uncommon silence. Plagg didn't even berate him that harshly about his cheese, even going so far as to say  _please_  when he asked for some.

They were already tucked in for the night when Adrien finally spoke.  _Hey Plagg... how much did you listen today?_

Plagg who had already been comfortably curled beside Adrien glanced over at him. "I heard some things. I mostly took naps."

_Hmm_. Adrien hummed thoughtfully until he finally blurted out his thoughts.

_Plagg, do you have someone you love?_

His kwami raised an eyebrow, whisker twitching. "What?"

Adrien felt the tips of his ears grow a little warm, but he went on.  _I mean, is there anyone special to you? You can't always have been alone. Being Chat Noir seems like a full time job... doesn't it get a little lonely?_

"Are you kidding? I don't have time to get lonely when I'm looking after boneheads like you."

Adrien frowned.  _I'm being serious here._ With a dejected sigh, he flopped around.  _Never mind. I guess your head really is filled with nothing but cheese._

Plagg sighed with a roll of his eyes. "Look, I love cheese, but I'm not heartless." He finally conceded. "I do. Have someone, that is."

Adrien was wide awake now.  _Really? It would be another kwami right?_  His eyes widened as something occurred to him, thinking of the only other kwami he knew.  _Wait, is it Tikki? Are you two together?_

Plagg smirked, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "What's with humans and always having to know everything? Look, Tikki and I... we're beyond any of those labels of yours."

_What do you mean?_  Adrien proceeded cautiously. He'd never asked Plagg about his life, never wanting to intrude or pry because every time he would usually just evade his questions and chatter away about cheese instead, but he couldn't quell his curiosity now that Plagg was actually sharing.  _I'm sorry Plagg. I didn't realize... and I've been asking you to hide yourself from her. You should've told me sooner. Don't you miss her?_

"Of course I miss her." Plagg said quietly. "But Tikki and I, we're halves of a whole. Though we may not see each other directly all the time, even for decades or longer sometimes, we  _always_  find each other. So really, it's like I'm with her all the time." A tiny, rare smile crossed his face. "We'll always be together... as long as there is Chat Noir and Ladybug."

_I never realized you were such a romantic Plagg._ Adrien chuckled though he was touched by the admission.

"Psh. Besides, it's not like it'll be much longer till I properly see her anyways." Plagg cackled, promptly shutting him up

The next morning, Adrien was drawn out of sleep by the smell of freshly baked bread. He wasn't surprised when he realized that Plagg was the source as he happily indulged himself with a cheese danish. But when he recognized the unmistakable TS bakery logo on the bag set beside him, Adrien darted up to grab it.

There was a little pink sticky note stuck to the front and he noted with a chuckle that it hadn't been signed, but this time it didn't need to be. His eyes darted over the tiny message once, twice, and once again, his heart aflutter. All it said was that she'd made him some pastries and that she hoped to see him back at school and healthy on Monday (despite the fact that she would actually be seeing him again in a bit) but it was enough to make his morning. She'd actually gone through the trouble after all, for him...

He set the bag down and moved over to his dresser, pulling out his scarf. He held it gently, curling his fingers into the fabric. Quietly, he pulled it against his face.

She was wrong.

Ladybug may have been a symbol, but there was more to it. It  _did_  matter who was behind the mask; if anything, Ladybug wouldn't- no,  _couldn't_ be who she was supposed to be if it weren't for Marinette. Beautiful, wonderful, clumsy,  _strong_ Marinette.

That, Adrien was sure of.

Ghosting his scarf over his mouth, his face grew warm as he remembered the feel of her lips pressing gently against his face. She was more amazing that she'd ever know.

~.~.~.~.~

Plagg sighed beneath him. "Ok Adrien, don't you think this is getting a little out of hand? We've moved up to visiting twice a days now? You're being creepy."

Adrien scampered through the dark streets towards the bakery, attempting to sound casual.  _I'm not being creepy! Marinette seemed really tired and out of it today. I just want to make sure that she's alright, that's all._ He was worried about her. She had been out of it all day, stifling yawns and unable to keep a frown from her face. She'd spent her time working tensely on the gloves before finally shoving them down, announcing her restlessness. Right after, she'd promptly transformed and left.

It had been early enough for him to actually leave and justify returning. At this time, it was a little early for Ladybug to be finished with her patrol, but since she had left earlier than normal he hoped that she would be back soon. And when she returned, he'd be there to greet her.

But as he rounded the corner onto the quiet street of the bakery, a flash of red slipped through the darkness and caught his eye. She sailed down so smoothly that he might have missed her if he hadn't known where she was going. She landed on her balcony and vanished, having must have gone inside.

_My Lady!_ He chirped excitedly, ignoring Plagg's groaning. He skillfully scaled the wall, something he'd gotten quite good at within the past few days, and had reached her balcony within ten minutes just as her light blinked out but when he approached he realized that her window was still open. He frowned.

Curious and a little uneasy, he crept towards the window and peeked inside. Though it was dim, he easily made out the figure of Ladybug curled up on her bed. But more than that, he could see her shoulders shaking and hear the sound of sniffling filling the quiet.

Something was definitely wrong. He leapt down beside her without thinking, oblivious to Plagg who tried pulling him back by his tail, just as her transformation dissolved around her. Tikki burst from her earrings with a pop and her eyes were big and sad. She floated over to curl against Marinette's cheek. As Adrien approached, his bell jingled around his neck alerting them to his presence.

The two turned to face him and his breath caught as her eyes glistened back at him, lashes damp with tears. With the palm of her hand she wiped them and forced out a breathless chuckle. "Hey kitty, what are you still doing here? Sorry, you haven't caught me at my best moment."

_Princess..._ The watery smile she sent him tore his heart to pieces but she couldn't hold it as several more tears slipped down her cheek. He meowed in concern, slowly approaching to settle beside her face, desperate to know what was wrong.

Tikki patted her affectionately. "It's okay Marinette. I'm sure he's okay..." Tikki said quietly. "Until we hear from him, we... we can't assume anything. You can't keep pushing yourself like you've been doing the last couple of days. You're exhausted Marinette, you need to relax-"

Marinette shook her head, trembling. "I can't. I just..." She took a shaky breath as Adrien suddenly understood. "I should've known something was wrong the first night he didn't show up. Chat would never just leave, especially without telling me. And now he's missing and it's strange that the akuma has been keeping such a low profile. It can't be a coincidence. What if he did do something reckless? What if he's  _hurt_  somewhere? What if... and I've just been  _sitting_ here." She buried her face in her hands. "I feel so helpless."

Adrien's blood had gone chilly, horror dropping like a stone in his stomach.

"No." Tikki tried saying firmly. "You haven't just been sitting here and you know it. Something would've happened by now if he'd been taken. I'm sure of it." So she said, but Adrien could see her worried expression in the dark.

_What have I done?_

He'd been so caught up in his eagerness to spend time with Marinette that he had never even considered his lady's feelings at all. He'd been so selfish and dumb.

He had never intended to hurt her like this, but never did he think that she'd react like she was either. If anything, he'd have thought that his absence might be a small relief for her since he always seemed to be on the brink of her nerves. But he thought of her smiling at him, at Chat Noir, and now he felt completely ashamed. Of course she would be worried about him. They were a duo, partners... and beyond his flirting and unrequited feelings, there always was their bond with each other regardless and he was an idiot for thinking that she wouldn't care. He knew that if she ever vanished without a word he wouldn't rest until he found her either.  

Uncertainly he scooted closer to her and gently nuzzled her face. She blinked up at him in surprise, a stray tear falling from her eyelashes but she lifted a hand to pet him and he purred loudly to try and comfort her.

Suddenly, she reached to cup him close to her and pulled him to her chest, curling against him. In her arms, he flushed; he could feel the beating of her heart. He tried looking up to see her face but stopped when she felt her grip tighten as she buried her face into his fur. Cool drops made it damp.

"That  _stupid_  cat. Stupid, stupid,  _stupid_. Where are you Chat?" She whispered against his head. Adrien could only close his eyes, meowing softly, and only curled closer to her.

He knew he couldn't stay like this, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her arms, even when he finally felt her relax her grip around him and her breathing slowed. He'd leave in just a little, he told himself, he just wanted to be here a little longer. Just a little longer...

_Tomorrow. I'll tell her tomorrow for sure. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me Princess..._ were his last thoughts before nodding off, wrapped in his lady's warm embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woops, there's the angst. It practically put itself in, I'm sorry!!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What can we expect to happen when Adrien wakes up in Marinette's arms?  
> No less than a catastrophe of course!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Though probably not in the way most of you expected.)

Soft rays of morning sun streamed across Adrien’s face and he sighed peacefully, sinking deeper into his pillow. There was the subtle scent of  cinnamon and fresh bread, and he breathed deeply, nuzzling his face against it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so comfortable. For that one moment, he was warmly snuggled and everything was good with the world.

Then there was a loud scream in his ear and suddenly everything was _not_.

His eyes snapped open, instantly wide awake. Big blue eyes stared back and reflected his own shock. It all rushed back to him.

This wasn’t his bed. This wasn’t his room. He hadn’t been cuddling his pillow, but _arms_. That were still wrapped around him…

Oh _no_.

Oh no, oh no, oh no- he had to think fast but the panic was already welling up as Marinette’s eyes widened. When you wake up with a boy in your bed that had definitely not been there before… of course all things would go to hell. What did he expect to happen? And how was he going to explain himself? Where would he even _begin_? This was not exactly how he’d seen the truth coming out… even though he had a good explanation.

Shit.

 _I CAN EXPLAIN!_ He shrieked but Marinette merely thrust him out her arms, not even roughly, and promptly vaulted over him and out of bed. Two things crossed his mind at once. 1) That was not how he’d expect a girl who just found a boy, and not just any boy but _Adrien_ of all people, randomly cuddling with her in bed to react without any flying objects or even more screaming and 2) he hadn’t even spoken words had he?

He looked down at himself and his still tiny, furry body. This didn’t make sense. He should’ve turned back by now, but unless he was hallucinating or dreaming, those were definitely pink little cat pads on his paws. He squished one to be sure and yup, they were real. Dumbfounded, he peeked over the edge of Marinette’s bed; she was running around like crazy. When she started pulling at the bottom of her shirt to change he quickly dove under her pillow, burning with horror.  

“Tikki, we slept in. We’re so late! Mme. Mendeleiev is going to kill me.” Marinette cried. Adrien, who hadn’t noticed her, jumped when Tikki drowsily fluttered off the bed while rubbing her eyes.

“It’s because you’ve been losing too much sleep.” She chided half-heartedly, yawning, as Marinette continued to stumble around, packing her back and brushing out her hair in record timing. She ran downstairs and returned a beat later with a small plate of food in her hand which she put out, grabbed her bag and threw her purse over her shoulder, clicking it open.

“Okay, let’s go Tikki! Bye kitty, I’ll be back later.” She waved a warm cookie and Tikki flew down to grab it before nestling into her purse. Marinette flew out of the room, closing the trap door on her way out and promptly leaving Adrien alone in silence. This had all happened in about five minutes and Adrien couldn’t help but feel like he’d been hit by a hurricane.

But after the storm had passed, it really sank in.

He was still a cat. He hadn’t changed back to normal even though it was morning. He didn’t even know what was worse. On one hand, if he had actually transformed back… he probably dodged a bullet there, but _why was he still a cat?_  

 _Plagg? Plagg! Are you here?_ Adrien yowled. Plagg floated reluctantly up from under the bed; his face was scrunched in a deep scowl.

 _We have a huge problem._ Adrien frantically gestured over himself but Plagg just narrowed his eyes and flew over to the plate of food Marinette had left out.

“You’re telling me. I had the worst night! I’m tired and I haven’t had any cheese in over twelve hours.” He snapped grumpily, biting into a pastry. “Because someone couldn’t think like a smart person and just _had_ to fall asleep.”

 _Plagg._ Adrien stared at him incredulously. _I’m sorry about all that, but hello? I’m still a CAT. I think we have bigger problems._

“Eh, it’s all relative.”

_PLAGG._

“Okay, okay! I get it.” Plagg grumbled. “I admit this is a slight problem.”

_Slight?!_

“Don’t get your tail all in a knot. To be fair, maybe we should’ve seen this coming. The transformations kept happening earlier and earlier each day!”

 _I didn’t think I would just stop turning back though!_ Adrien fretted. Ok, maybe if he’d thought about it and acted a little more smartly he would’ve considered the possibility and could have done the smart thing and tell Marinette that first night, but no, like the clever person he was, he’d waited too long and now Marinette was upset and he was stuck as a cat.

He started in alarm. What if the Cleansing Light had a time limit?  What if he had waited too long and even if she used it, it wouldn’t work and he was stuck as a cat _forever_? It also briefly occurred to him that Nathalie wouldn’t find him in his bed that morning, the only time she really checked on him over the previous days, but he couldn’t even go back and try to make an excuse because unless she could speak cat it wouldn’t do him any good. 

 _Why didn’t you stop her before she left?_ Adrien cried, already jumping up to the window which was still thankfully open.

“Hey don’t blame this on me!” Plagg said, flying up to cling onto his tail as he darted out. “Whose idea was it to keep this from her? Not mine.”

 _Either way, there’s no question about it anymore._ Adrien skirted the edges of the building so fast he almost missed his footing a couple of times. _We can’t wait anymore, we have to tell her NOW._

As he was in a rush, Adrien didn’t have time to be careful and he darted straight through the bustling Parisian streets. He was almost stepped on and kicked several times, but thankfully the school was near the bakery so it wouldn’t be much longer-

His feet were swept from underneath him as he was neatly scooped straight into the air, the bell swinging wildly around his neck. _What the-_

“Finally! I’ve been looking for you all week. I never expected the magic to take this long.” His captor purred, pulling the net close to his face to examine his prey.

Adrien hissed, immediately recognizing that voice. It was a struggle to turn around in the mesh material, his limbs tangling easily, but when he managed to right himself his lips pulled back to reveal his fangs in a snarl. _Leopard King!_

“Didn’t think I forgot about you did you Chat Noir? That magic should’ve changed you within a day, but you must be special for it to have taken this long. You’ve kept us waiting.” He frowned and Adrien watched the familiar outline of a glowing butterfly flash briefly over his face. “But no matter, as soon as it had fully taken hold it was easy to find you.”

Adrien struggled hard but he couldn’t stabilize his footing without a paw slipping through a hole and his claws couldn’t get a good grasp on any of the netting. _Damnit!_ He growled out loud in frustration. _I need to get-_

“Ladybug?” Leopard King purred and laughed at Adrien’s expression as he shut up. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves my furry friend. That’s the plan, of course. Don’t look so surprised now; of course I can understand every word you’re saying.” He chuckled and roughly tossed Adrien over his shoulder like a sake of potatoes, making him slightly dizzy from impact. “Now, let’s be on our way. We have a Ladybug to catch!”

As the Leapord King deftly leapt off, Adrien let out a soft _Oof!_ when Plagg suddenly barreled through the net and against his stomach, nestling tightly against him silently. Unwilling to risk Plagg being discovered, they only exchanged a grim look as the Leopard King flew over the roof tops.  

Eventually he slowed and stopped on top of an abandoned building, slipping inside through a rusted open hole. Adrien nudged Plagg off his chest and gestured him to get out much to his kwami’s confusion but he only silently shook his head, jabbing his paw in the opposite direction. _Ladybug_ , he mewed softly and though Plagg frowned deeply he nodded in understanding and Adrien watched him zip out of sight after only a moment of hesitation. Though he didn’t feel any comfort in being left alone, Plagg was his only hope now.

Without warning he was pulled out of the  bag by the scruff of his neck and automatically started lashing his limbs around before feeling his claws manage to connect and sink across a soft surface. The Leopard King cried out but unfortunately didn’t let go, and Adrien was thrust into an iron cage that dangled from a chain attached to the ceiling. It swung around erratically from the force of the Leopard King shutting the door but he flashed him a smug look all the same when the akumatized villain pulled back to tenderly touch his cheek.

“You’ll pay for that.” The Leopard King growled. “But first, I think it’s about time I take your miraculous… wait a minute. Where is it? Where’s the ring?” The Leopard King demanded and peered into his cage but kept his face out of range of another swipe.

 _It’s safe._ Adrien shot back smugly. _Somewhere you won’t find it at least!_

“That’s… unfortunate.” The Leopard King frowned momentarily. “Too bad I can’t undo the magic. I would’ve loved to see the true Chat Noir. No matter, as long as I have you captive, that will do, and we’ll pull it out of you eventually. But now, we wait for Ladybug to come save the day. And now that I’ve got you, I can take her down without you getting in the way.”

Adrien’s ears pressed against his head, tail wrapping around himself protectively.

 _Don’t bet on it!_ He hissed firmly, but he only wished he felt as confident as he sounded.

~.~.~.~.~

Alya sighed, glancing over at Marinette who was half-heartedly nibbling at her lunch. She couldn’t figure out what was wrong: her usually cheerful friend had been in a funk all morning. She had been peculiarly silent and constantly spaced out, her expression was scrunched as if she were troubled, there were hints of shadows under her eyes, and she had run into at least twice as many objects as usual and it was barely noon.

Maybe she was just bummed that Adrien was still sick, Alya mused. When she asked about it Marinette only forced a laugh and waved her off, insisting it was nothing and that she was just tired which could be perfectly true but she still wished there was something she could do. She had dragged them outside for lunch during break, hoping a bit of fresh air would brighten her up but so far no such luck.

While Alya continued to ponder, Marinette was far off as she had been all day. Currently she was making a list in her head, mentally scratching off and brainstorming places where she might check for clues of Chat Noir’s disappearance or of the Leopard King. Honestly, she would’ve liked to be out there right now, but Alya had insisted on lunch together. Of course she was already planning to go out later, but even she knew she couldn’t keep this pace up. Tikki was struggling too, but none of it made sense. She was convinced that the akuma and Chat Noir’s simultaneous absence wasn’t coincidental. There had to be a clue out there, or a trace, that she must’ve been missing, but if she didn’t hear anything soon she was definitely going to go-

Marinette inhaled so sharply she accidentally sucked back a piece of her sandwich and started choking mid-bite.

“Marinette!” Alya exclaimed in alarm as Marinette’s eyes darted to a spot directly behind Alya. Right outside her peripheral vision floated a small, black… cat thing? And it was waving its arms wildly at her.

Noting her friend’s wild bug-eyed stare, Alya started to look over her shoulder but before she could make a full turn Marinette had already launched herself forward at full speed. Plagg’s startled yelp was silenced as her hands clapped around him.  

“What is it?” Alya asked frantically, trying to see what she was doing, but Marinette was on a mini-adrenaline rush and said the first thing that popped into her head while still blocking her view.

“I-it was a huge rat!”

“Oh _hell_ no!” Alya screeched and stumbled away as fast as she could while flailing her arms in disgust. “Did you just catch it, and with your bare hands? Gross!”

“Ouch!” Marinette yelped, yanking her hand away in surprise when sharp teeth snapped down on her finger. She gazed down at the black kitten-like sprite in her hand, mouth agape in disbelief, as she met his hard, fuming stare.

“Girl, did it just _bite_ you?” Alya panicked.

“Uh,” Marinette tucked her captive firmly against her chest, muffling his cry of protest. “Um, I mean, no- yes! Yeah, I’m going to go get rid of it and then I’ll go to the nurse to get the bite looked at! ”

Alya was still squealing when Marinette fled the scene. She sprinted around a corner and once she was sure no one was in sight she leaned heavily against the wall and tried to calm her racing heart. While she caught her breath, Plagg wrenched himself out of her grip, rubbing his head while groaning.  

“Did you have to hold on so hard?” He snapped and Marinette’s jaw dropped, hinging open and closed.“And I am not a rat thank you very much!”

“I-I’m sorry?” Marinette stuttered. “But you just _appeared_. And what- are you-”

“Plagg!” A flash of red was all the warning Plagg had before he was tackled out of the air by a pair of tiny red arms that snatched him around the neck.

“Tikki.” As if she had sucked it all away, Plagg’s irritation vanished for an instant and he returned the tight embrace, nuzzling deeply into her warmth and sighing lightly. He hadn’t seen her in so long.

“Uh, Tikki?” Marinette said after a moment, hesitantly interrupting their moment. When they caught her eye, Plagg scowled in embarrassment and Tikki darted back, her body slightly glowing in a full flush.

“Sorry Marinette. This is Plagg. He’s Chat Noir’s kwami.” She explained, floating at his side.

“Chat’s?” Marinette breathed and just like that their happy reunion was over. Tikki leaned over him ominously.

“What are you doing here Plagg? How did you find us? Where’s Chat Noir? Where. Have. You. _Been_? We’ve been trying to contact your for days but we could never get through!” Tikki got louder with every question and Plagg just wanted to shrink with each one. He gulped, suddenly nervous. As much hot water Adrien was in, he couldn’t deny that he also might have been _slightly_ at fault.

“Ad-er, Chat’s in trouble!” Plagg said. “The Leopard akuma guy came back and caught him.”

“What?” Marinette grabbed him gently out of the air. The genuinly worried look she was giving him stabbed mercilessly at his conscious. “Please Plagg. Tell us what happened.”

He twiddled his paws together. “Actually… and it’s a _really_ funny story… there’s no time to explain! We need to go find him.”

Marinette exchanged a questionable glance with Tikki whose eyes had suspiciously trained on Plagg.  

“Ok…” Marinette said slowly. “You’re right. Tikki, spots on!” Tikki didn’t stop staring at Plagg up until the moment where she vanished into her miraculous. Ladybug rested Plagg on her shoulder before sailing away from the school.

“How did Chat get captured?” Ladybug asked as she leapt across the city. “Why didn’t you transform?”

“Er… he caught us off guard and… we got separated.” Plagg said.

“Wait, has Chat’s identity been compromised?“ Ladybug asked insistently. This had all happened so quickly and there were so many holes about all this but Plagg just shushed her.

"You ask too many questions!”

“You haven’t given me any answers!” Ladybug shot back in frustration. “Fine. Once we save him, he can explain himself. And he _better_ have a good explanation for all this. Now where is he?”

Plagg gazed down at the city, “Um…”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know?” She threw her hands up.

Plagg crossed his arms and pouted. “Look, after he was captured, I had to come find you _!_ I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going the whole time. And let me tell you, it’s not easy to fly across Paris in broad daylight when you’re tiny and aren’t supposed to be seen _._ ”

“Ok…then can you sense his miraculous or something?”

Plagg frowned, giving her a look. “What gave you that idea?”

“I don’t know.” Marinette admitted, “I’m just reaching here.”

“Well, I can’t.” Plagg retorted sourly and then muttered under his breath. “Besides, it’s not like it would’ve done much good if I could.”

Ladybug stiffened. “What exactly does that mean?”

Oops. Plagg forced a chuckle.

“Um, well, we might have… lost it.”

“YOU WHAT?”

Ladybug almost flew straight into the side of a building, jerking harshly in surprise. After scrambling up onto the roof, she whirled on him.  

“It’s not as bad as sounds!” Plagg backed away from her, paws up in defense. “That was a poor choice of words. It’s not lost, we know where it is and it’s safe… but it’s just been out of reach for the past couple of days.”

She went stiff, pulling her arms close and suddenly looking very unsure. “Wait, so if he doesn’t even have his miraculous, you can’t transform. Which means he’s his civilian self right now.”

“ _That’s_ what you’re worried about?" 

Ladybug drew back with a frown, but still seemed hesitant. "I mean, it’s not the only thing I’m worried about but…”

This was growing tiresome. Besides, it’s not like she wasn’t going to find out the truth soon enough anyways, but he was not about to be the one to break it to her. “Okay, look. Trust me, you don’t have to worry about that right now.”

“Why?”

“It’s…” Plagg sighed. “It would probably be better if you just see for yourself.”

“Can you be anymore cryptic?” Ladybug groaned. She crossed her arms, her eyes sharp enough to practically drill holes into him. “This would be a lot easier to understand if you just told me what happened!”

Plagg abruptly pointed into the distance. “Oh wait, I just remembered it’s this way!” He zoomed off, peeking over his shoulder to see Ladybug trailing behind him, a scowl marring her face.

Plagg groaned inside. How much did a kwami have to go through to just get a little bit of cheese?

~.~.~.~.~

Adrien nearly had a heart attack when a loud shattering pierced the silence of the old building. He shot to his feet, heart racing, when he caught sight of the familiar black and red spots as Ladybug picked herself up, brushing away stray pieces of glass.

_Ladybug!_

“Plagg, where’s he keeping Chat?” She whispered carefully, glancing at her shoulder where he could make out the green of Plagg’s eyes.

“Er… he’s over there.” Was all the warning he had before he froze like a deer in headlights when Ladybug stared straight at him. She gasped and dropped her yoyo in surprise, her eyes drawn to the bell around his neck.

“Kitty?” She grabbed his cage. “How did you get here? What exactly is the Leopard King doing?”  She tried yanking on the lock but it wouldn’t budge. “Don’t worry, I’ll set you free. But I thought you said Chat Noir was here, not an actual black cat!”

Plagg grimaced. “It is Chat.”

“Yes, we’ve already established that this is a cat.” She glanced at Plagg in confusion. He just put his paw on his face with a big sigh.

“No, you don’t understand. It’s-” He cut off sharply, zipping into Adrien’s cage when the end of a whip sailed out from the darkness and almost managed to snag her arm but she flipped away before it could land.

“It’s nice of you to join us at last Ladybug.” Leopard King purred, walking into the light with a sly grin tugging at his face. “I’m surprised you found us so quickly.”

She spun her yoyo fiercely, glaring him down. “What exactly are you doing, putting that cat in a cage like that? And what have you done to Chat Noir? I know you’ve taken him!”

The Leopard King cackled haughtily. “I’m afraid you’re too late. The spell is permanent now. But hand over your miraculous and maybe I won’t hurt him.”

“What spell? Where _is_ he?” Ladybug demanded.

“Haven’t realized yet? Why, he’s right over there.” The Leopard King pointed a claw at Adrien. Ladybug craned her neck, looking around him while squinting her eyes.

“You mean behind the cat, or…”

The Leopard King blinked, faltering for a second. “No, of course not! I mean that the cat _is_ Chat Noir!”

As he watched Ladybug slowly turn back to him, it suddenly occurred to Adrien that maybe letting the akuma win just this once wouldn’t be such a bad thing. At least, it couldn’t be nearly as bad as what was surely waiting for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know a lot of you were expecting Adrien to be back to normal and while that would've been sooo great, only a few people noticed that he was turning back earlier and earlier each day. Not good for our Chat. But yeah, now he's DEFINITELY in trouble.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RIP Adrien.

The silence was palpable. Adrien shrunk under Ladybug's undiscerning gaze, all the air in his lungs seeming to evaporate. Seconds ticked by but still she did nothing though he could see the thoughts turning inside her head. He just wanted this agony to be over and for her to pull the plug and oh god why wasn't she saying anything?

"Well..." Plagg whispered behind him. "This is awkward."

Extremely put out from Ladybug's total lack of reaction to his grand reveal, the Leopard King lifted a hesitant finger, expression pinched. "Um..."

Ladybug burst out laughing. It was a full laugh that shook her body and echoed loudly. They all just watched, stunned, as she clutched her stomach and wiped a tear. She waved him away though a giggle or two slipped out. "For a second there I thought you were implying that the cat was Chat Noir, but that's impossible because that would mean...would mean..." Her laughter died down almost instantly, as if a switch had flipped, and then Adrien could  _see_  the fiery wave of heat that skyrocketed up her neck and across her face. As she continued to look between him and the bell around his neck, he almost expected steam to start whistling out of her ears.

A small, insane part of him couldn't help but think how the red of her face was a cute, nearly identical shade to the red of her suit, but the still rational side just told him to be afraid as she fixed her eyes on him once more.

Very afraid.

It was very much Ladybug standing in front of him right now, but it was almost amazing how much  _Marinette_  was leaking through the mask. She had always been incredibly expressive and he had the front row seat to watching the realization crash over her. He imagined this was what it felt like to stare down an approaching train while also being tied to the tracks.

First her face was flat but when the spark of realization had burst into a flame, it was like watching a movie by facial expressions alone: there was shock, denial, mortification, confusion, and then suddenly her eyes were drilling into him so hard, he actually felt like he was being pierced. Anger wasn't enough to describe what he saw in her burning eyes, but if he had to pick the words to justify it, it was nothing but the look one gave its prey. And he was definitely dead meat.

" _Chat... Noir._ " She enunciated slowly. She tried taking deep breaths, but the murderous vibes practically rolling off her as she loomed closer to him made him squeak in terror.

They'd started staring at each other so intensely that both had quite honestly forgotten the Leopard King all together. As he stood dumbly to the side, pride incredibly offended and mildly confused, he could only watch in disbelief. This was unacceptable. No one ignored him!

_Ladybug!_  Adrien yelped when both completely missed the whip that lashed out at her. Taken by surprise, he could only watch in horror as his lady was thrown across the room, a cloud of dust puffing into the air as she roughly landed in a pile of old boxes. Adrien's haunches rose in anger and he hissed when the Leopard King sauntered over towards her as she struggled to pick herself up, luckily only flustered rather than actually hurt. She scowled deeply at him.

"Sorry, this isn't personal." She said, yoyo already spinning at high speed beside her. "But I'm  _not_  in a good mood right now. So I hope you don't mind if I'm a little rough."

"I'd like to see you try to even land a blow." The Leopard King lunged at her, a feral grin splitting his face. "You can't hope to win without your partner!"

Adrien groaned helplessly. This wasn't good; he had to do something fast about this cage or Ladybug could get into serious trouble. He tried alternating at striking at the lock and bashing himself repeatedly against the bars of the cage but it was no good and just left him with a sore side. This was hopeless.  _Plagg we have to help her_! He cried when Ladybug managed to slide safely near his cage.  _Ask her to break the cage open!_

Still trying to keep out of sight, Plagg cautiously called out to her, "Hey Ladybug, do you think you could be a pal and open-" He snapped his mouth shut when she fixed him with a searing glare that had made villains more than ten times his size cower and flee, jabbing a red clad finger straight between the bars.

" _No._  In fact, I don't want to hear another peep from you two." She hissed, seething. "You've caused enough trouble and you will stay put here until I clean up this mess. And  _you_ ," She addressed directly to Adrien. "I'll deal with  _you_  later."

Plagg mournfully patted Adrien's paw, but he only leapt to his feet in alarm.  _Ladybug behind you!_  In the time she had spent saying those few words to them, the Leopard King had picked himself up and produced the same cursed bow that had put him in this predicament in the first place and he was horrified to see that it was aimed directly at her back. His meowing made her twist around just as a glowing arrow sailed dangerously close and dissolved into one of the cage's bars instead.

"That arrow..." She pieced together. "That's what it was, wasn't it? What changed him."

"Correct." The Leopard King said, already drawing another one. "It was unfortunate that it hadn't worked instantly but if I manage to even hit you once, then you're mine. I won't make the mistake of letting you get the miraculous away this time either!" She barely scrambled out of the way at the series of arrows which he began to rapidly fire off. She was dodging them for now, but she wouldn't be able to forever.

No longer able to just sit and watch, Adrien started running back and forth. Plagg arched a brow.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

_Anything!_  He hissed back over the rattle of the cage as it began to swing.  _I may not be transformed, but I'm still Chat Noir and I'm going to protect her!_  This was all his fault so it was to time to lie in the bed he'd made for himself. The cage moved slowly at first but with his increasing speed it gained momentum and began to swing in large arcs. When he got it to the point where it had began to peak horizontally, he began to throw all of his weight down as hard as he could.

"Whoa!" Plagg yelled when there was a loud snap. Adrien's stomach dropped when gravity greedily took over and sent the cage flying across the space. It landed roughly against concrete, tumbling twice before stopping on its side, and Adrien groaned in pain, sore from impact and with his shoulder pulsing in pain from the awkward angle he'd landed it on. He tried rolling it and winced when it hurt but it wasn't debilitating so though he could probably expect a nice big bruise later he could live with it.

"Chat!" Ladybug cried when she saw the cage crash noisily but the Leopard King wasn't about to spare her a moment to check on him. The distraction had given her the opportunity to distance herself, but if she let her guard down for another moment, he might actually get her. She just couldn't get enough time to land a proper hit, let alone the time to call her lucky charm.

"Are you crazy?" Plagg buzzed around Adrien worriedly as he climbed to his feet.

_Probably a little_. The landing hadn't busted the lock but he was pleased to find that some of the bars had dented enough for him to try and squeeze through. It was uncomfortable, especially with his hurt shoulder, but after a few minutes of struggle, and a hearty push from Plagg, Adrien finally wiggled his way through.

He looked up in time just as the Leopard King managed to sweep Ladybug's feet from under her and she took a nasty spill to the ground. She stared up at him with wide eyes as he began to draw an arrow.

_Get away from her!_  

In a dead sprint, Adrien jumped straight on the Leopard King's back and onto his head. Completely surprised, he cried out, accidentally shooting the arrow up where it harmlessly dissolved on the ceiling. The bow clattered onto the ground as he tried to grab at him to throw him off but Adrien held tight, sinking his claws into all the soft place he could get his paws on, constantly writhing and scratching despite the Leopard King's hits.  

As the Leopard King stumbled around, Ladybug frantically climbed back to her feet, not missing a beat. She threw her yoyo into the air. "Lucky charm!"

After a bright flash of light, a small spotted jar dropped down into her hands and she frowned. "What is this?" She shook it, feeling it rattle softly inside and unscrewed the top revealing some kind of plant. It just looked like dried bits of grass to her, but there was a clear, pleasant smell of fresh, minty herbs. She looked confusedly at the Leopard King and Chat and back the to the jar, mind whirring. When it clicked, her eyes went wide.

_OH._

She wasn't going to have a better chance than this and she only felt mildly guilty before she chucked the entire thing, cap off,  just as the Leopard King was finally able to pull Adrien off his face. A rain of leafy debris showered the duo and she watched with bated breath. If this was actually what she thought it was and it  _worked_... 

"What the-" the Leopard King sputtered on some leaves that he'd accidentally inhaled mid-snarl. He dropped Adrien in alarm who had also become aware of the strange leaves and sniffed at the interesting plant curiously.

It was subtle at first, but a tingle began to form and spread through his body. He suddenly felt relaxed and jittery as everything seemed to grow fuzzy. It was when he shivered in delight though that he simultaneously realized with horror what exactly this was as he watched the Leopard King's pupils dilate wide, mirroring his own. They even looked at each other and he could see that they'd both reached the same conclusion.

_Catnip._

The Leopard King fell on all fours and began to writhe around the ground, whining and purring, rolling in what remains of the herb had scattered having received the brunt of it but Adrien could already feel an intense itching need to do very much the same. He sank down in bliss, almost against his will, and succumbed to the need, rolling around without abandon and chirping happily without care.  

"Oh my god." Ladybug watched the debacle incredulously. "I can't believe that actually worked." Nervous that the effects wouldn't last long, she hurried over to pick up her cat who had his eyes closed and was purring  _very_  loudly and unevenly. In his drunken-like state, he even started batting his head against her before blissfully melting into a fuzzy black ball of liquid cat in her arms and nuzzling against her affectionately. Though a part of her couldn't help but think he deserved this just a little, she did try dusting him off as much as possible before kicking up the Leopard King's whip that had been abandoned.

"This is pure gold. Can you  _please_  take a picture? No, a video!" Plagg, who had recognized the subtle smell instantly and had stayed far away from any of it, floated to her side just as she stomped one end of the whip and yanked harshly upwards with her free hand. It snapped in two with a loud twang.

With a practiced hand, she easily caught the dark butterfly that flew out and a moment later a white one fluttered into the distance. She bent down to pick up the empty jar and shot a hesitant look at the cat in her arms before tossing it up into the air.

The Cleansing Light swirled all around, the magic dancing and sweeping up everything. The magic reattached the cage to the ceiling and flew to swirl around the Leopard King and the mess of catnip, leaving an extremely disgruntled looking man who still looked plenty out of it but Ladybug and Plagg had their eyes trained solely on the black cat that was still wiggling in her arms and reaching out his paws to happily catch the imaginary ladybugs that had started to lazily fly around him.

"Why isn't it working?" Ladybug exclaimed, the panic already welling inside her voice. "Could he have been like this too long?" Plagg shook his head vehemently, but he couldn't hide his worry either.

"That's impossible! It can't be permanent- I've never seen Ladybug's power fail-"

Then in the middle of his sentence, there it was, the magic bursting across her arms. They sighed together in relief.

And then a thought occurred to Plagg and he turned big, alarmed eyes on her, quickly reaching out a futile paw. " _Wait Ladybug,_ he's still-"

But it was too late and the magic vanished just as Ladybug, already scowling again, began talking. "Chat,  _I swear to god_ , you've got some explaining-" But then she was choking on her words, emitting a sound akin to a dying animal, because she had completely forgotten the fact that Chat didn't have his miraculous.

Which meant that Chat Noir wasn't transformed.

Which meant that it wasn't exactly Chat Noir in her arms.

She first noticed the perfect hair which she had mistaken as Chat's initially but then there were those beautiful green eyes that were blinking dreamily at her and it clicked.

Her mouth opened in a shrill scream as not Chat Noir, but  _Adrien Agreste_  curled closer against her only to let out a pained "Oof!" a second later when she dropped him in shock.

Plagg rubbed his temple, sensing the beginning of a head ache. "Well that could've gone better."

~.~.~.~.~

When the delusional ladybugs flying around his head finally disappeared, Adrien slowly came to, the largest whine tearing from his throat. He must have been hit by a train from how much pain he was in; his head was pounding and his shoulder and practically everywhere else ached whenever he tried moving. Even though his eyes were still closed, the light seemed too bright and he struggled to turn over and away from the source. It felt as if he hadn't slept for days or was just waking up from some deep sleep except while also having been beaten with a bag filled with bricks.

"Plagg?" He groaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly.  _Fingers_... He looked at his hand, blinking slowly. Then he shot up only to end up crashing right back down as he was overcome with a brutal wave of vertigo.

"Easy kid." Plagg's voice floated over to him. Adrien’s lips thinned into a flat line when he heard the grin in his voice, but to his credit he did sound a little sympathetic. "Don't worry, this won't last. Your just riding out the rest of the effects from the catnip and it'll be out of your system soon enough now. It did quite a number on you. Remember anything?"

"It's all kind of... muddled." Adrien murmured, frowning. He tried sitting up again, but went deliberately slower this time. "I remember attacking the akuma and then everything kind of goes hazy."

"Yeah, that would make sense." Plagg scratched his neck sheepishly. "You kind of... got high, in a matter of speaking." His kwami sniffed him, drawing back with a shudder. "And from what I can tell, it was some really good stuff too. I don't envy you, but to be honest I'm surprised it affected you as badly as it did. I know you're supposed to be unlucky, but this just takes the cake."

"What happened?" Adrien looked around in surprise. He was back in his room, in bed to boot and he could see the sun beginning to dip outside. A rush of excitement hit him. So he had managed to turn back which obviously meant that Ladybug had won... wait a minute. His excitement popped like a balloon. 

"Plagg... tell me what happened." He repeated fearfully.

"Well..." Plagg drawled for a moment, but then they both jumped when there was a sharp knock at his door. He zipped over his shoulder to hide, speaking so quickly that Adrien almost couldn't catch it all.

"So the story is that you snuck out this morning but Marinette found you passed out from a dizzy spell and walked you home, got it?"

" _WHAT?"_  Adrien wheezed as his door opened, revealing a very perturbed Nathalie.

"Adrien? Did you just wake up?" Nathalie said stiffly, tone clipped.

"Y-yes!" Adrien sputtered, a completely flustered mess as he tried to register what Plagg had said while also attempting to stay calm. "Yes."

"Were you just talking to someone? I heard yelling."

"No, no!" Adrien waved quickly but then flailed across the bed to reach for his phone and cram it against his ear. "I mean, YES. I was just talking with my friend. Bye Marinette..." He trailed off weakly into the phone, forcing a laugh while feeling the heat crawl rapidly against his skin. He pulled the phone away, wanting nothing more than to bash his face against it but if he didn't want to look any more crazy than he was sounding it was probably for the best that he didn't give in to that particular impulse.

Nathalie pursed her lips and gave him a really weird look. "Um, right. That's the girl who brought you home this evening right?"

"Y-yeah...?" He sounded much more unsure than he would have liked but to be honest, he himself was trying to get a grasp of it all as well.

"What were you thinking? It was crazy to try and leave the house in your condition, especially without saying a word." Nathalie scolded, mouth dropping into a harsh scowl. "You're lucky that that girl found you and escorted you home before anything happened. This is clearly more serious than we had initially thought so we'll be calling the family physician and..." She went on and on, slipping in comments to chastise him on how irresponsible and dumb he'd been which he could only nod at because he wasn't really listening. Instead, he was screaming on the inside because all he'd gotten from that was that Marinette had taken him home.

Marinette had taken him,  _Adrien_ , home. 

Nathalie sighed, pushing up the bridge of her glasses with a righteous huff. "Honestly... but enough of that. I'm sure your father will have plenty to say himself, but until then is there anything I could have delivered up for you? You must not have eaten yet today; maybe that's what caused you to faint."

He felt a sharp poke at his back side and he instantly said, "Just...camembert, please?"

She just looked at him strangely again, but began to slowly back out. "Alright. Then I'll leave you to rest. This will not happen again, yes?"

"Yes." Adrien mumbled, face hot. Satisfied, she nodded and left. As soon as the door closed behind her Adrien face planted on top of his sheets, exhausted all over again. He felt Plagg whiz out from under the covers and drop on top of his head.

"Just end me."

"There there." Plagg said."It's not as bad as it sounded." Adrien glared at him. "Okay... maybe it was. But it was actually really funny now that I think about it. Marinette made quite a scene showing up at your door with you half-passed out in la-la-land on her shoulder while she looked like she was about to faint herself. And then you should've seen her sprint away- that girl can  _run_!"

"NOThelping Plagg."

"Oh, that reminds me." Plagg said. "You want the good news or the bad news?"

"Seriously? Was that not the bad news?" Adrien sighed deeply, sitting up."Ok, good news." Plagg flew over to the desk and back quickly, holding up a small, silvery object  in triumph.

"Ta da!" Plagg cried, dropping it into his lap.

"Wha- my ring!" Adrien slid his miraculous right back on his finger, staring at it in disbelief. "But how?"

"Well, that's the bad news." Plagg said. "But I don't think I have to tell you..."

His groan was muffled. "I knew it, but still. So she definitely knows everything. She hates me doesn't she?"

"Eh..." Plagg shrugged offhandedly which was perfectly reassuring.

Adrien drooped, depressed. He'd really messed everything up hadn't he? "So that's it then. I was hoping that maybe, as Adrien, I could've had a chance and fixed this somehow but now that she knows I'm Chat, it's all over. The fact that she's not even here means that she doesn't want to talk right? And how am I supposed to look her in the eye the next time I see her? She's never going to want to speak to me again."

To his surprise Plagg just snorted. "Nah, I wouldn't worry too much. She loves you just fine." He said it so matter-of-factly that Adrien couldn't help but feel a tiny flutter of hope spring back to life though he still burned at the mention of her loving him.

"What? How could you know that?" Adrien demanded.

"I read her diary." He said simply.

"You did  _what?_ "

Plagg crossed his arms defensively. "Hey I was bored! What did you expect me to do in that box all those days? There's only so long you can sleep you know and I had to entertain myself somehow. "

"But- but," Adrien stumbled over his words. On one hand he thoroughly disapproved of Plagg's actions because it was an invasion of her privacy but on the other his curiosity was starting to niggle him and he couldn't help but wonder what exactly he had happened to read. But he had to stay strong and resist. "You can't just do that!"

"I just peeked a little." Plagg pouted then shot him a sly look. "I mean I knew she liked you, but  _whoa._ "

Adrien clapped his hands over his ears. "Plagg stop _._ "

"Are you sure you don't want to know anything?" Plagg cackled.

"No!"  _Yes..._  He couldn't cave in though. Absolutely not. These were Marinette's deepest thoughts, they weren't meant to be known-

"She thinks you have a cute butt! And not just as Adrien!"

"I don't want to hear this!" Adrien lied although he went bright red, secretly very pleased.  _Oh my god she thinks I have a cute butt..._  Okay, he very much did want to hear this, but if he didn't put a stop to this now he'd crack. "Enough!"

Plagg huffed, crossing his arms. "Okay okay, fine. Party pooper."

Adrien dropped his hands. "Thank you."

A beat of silence.

"Oh by the way, you also drooled all over her."

Adrien's aim was strong and true and the pillow he sent flying smacked Plagg squarely in the face, successfully sending him across the room. He was still chuckling when he floated back to his side, ignoring the sour look Adrien sent him.

"My  _point_  is," Plagg said a bit more seriously, eyes softening at his hopeless charge."You're over thinking everything right now. I promise you she doesn't hate you, but what I can tell you is that she is a little hurt and overwhelmed from everything. Let's wait a bit to give her space and then we can go over to properly talk with her."

"Wow Plagg." Adrien gaped at his kwami in shock. "That was actually... very reasonable."

"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy." Plagg said indignantly. He paused. "But I would be prepared to grovel if necessary."

Adrien nodded grimly. He had lied and betrayed her trust for selfish reasons and he was honestly prepared to do anything if it meant his lady forgiving him. Because she truly meant everything to him and if he lost her because of this, he would be devastated.

His mind filled with her, from the sound of her giddy laugh as they raced across the rooftops in the odd hours of the morning to her radiant smile that never failed to be there every day in class to the warmth of her embrace that made him feel safe and cherished. From the beginning, Ladybug had always been his light in the dark, but if Ladybug was the light then Marinette was the sun. And he wanted all of it.

He could only hope that maybe... just maybe... she would want all of him too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug. exe not responding. (Hooray for parallels! LOL)
> 
> Why must my writing bursts come right before I have exams I need to take? :'D I had two exams on Friday and basically wrote the entire chapter Wednesday and Thursday and barely studied. I'm so bad... So I hope you guys enjoyed this!! 
> 
> But I have to admit, I feel a little bad about putting our cinnamon roll through such mortification, and he hasn't even faced her yet! But this chapter was a train wreck to be honest, and I loved writing it omg (as you could probably guess from how fast this was written, since I usually _never_ do that!)
> 
> Also thinking that the next chapter will probably be the last, but I do want quite a bit to happen so if I don't end up splitting it, it might end up super long... but we shall see O_O


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Opurration: Beg for forgiveness! (aka the chapter when Marinette throws a lot of things)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (and also the chapter that killed me from fluff)

From his perch on the lamp post, Chat Noir appreciated the breeze of the cool night air and the quiet buzz of the city as he took a moment to collect himself and calm his speeding heart. To think he might never have been able to feel this again did not occur to him lightly and he would never again take being Chat Noir for granted. Not that he ever had, but he was definitely more conscious of it now. But despite how good it felt to be back, he couldn't stop the anxious twist of his insides as he looked across the street to Marinette's balcony.

He could already see her agitated form pacing back and forth with the occasional wild gesture and loud exclamation, but he didn't see anyone else so at least that meant she was probably talking to Tikki (or herself) and it was safe for him to come. His stomach swooped with nerves. It was now or never.

A shadow in the night, he silently scaled the wall up to her balcony where with limbs he managed it within seconds as opposed to the minutes it had taken him all week, but he almost wished he could've taken longer if only to delay the inevitable. He stopped just below the edge, heart bursting, and took one final timid breath before poking his head above the railing.

She didn't notice him at first which felt even worse. Trapped in her incessant walk with a nail wedged between her teeth, he watched her until he finally couldn't stand it and cleared his throat.

Her reaction was instantaneous. Rigid, she ever so slowly turned towards him. They locked gazes and even in the dark he could see her skin already beginning to flush. He'd had a plan, thought it over for hours actually, about what he was going to say and that he was going to say it all before she could say anything herself  but now at the moment of truth his brain had become useless and his mouth gaped like a fish as he desperately searched for words. The silence stretched between them and he forced himself to breathe; he just had to stay calm  and it'd be fine. They would have a reasonable, proper conversation about this. After all what was the worst that could happen?

He let out a nervous laugh, flinching at the crack in his voice, "H-hey princess, I - WHOA!"

The objects that were aimed for his head bounced off harmlessly enough despite his attempted protest but then _holy shit was that a flower pot!?_

He ducked and reactively lurched out to grab the plant-made-projectile before it could fly over the ledge and had to frantically windmill his arms through the air at his loss of balance. Just as his fingers hooked back on the rail, he looked up to see her pigtails vanish through the window and loudly slam it shut behind her, complete with a resounding _click_ of the lock _._ Vaulting the railing and casting the pot aside, he darted over just as she finished burying herself in her sheets.

"Wait, I just want to talk! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He called, pressing his face desperately against her window. The bundle of covers just shook in a clear _no._

"Please Marinette, let me explain." He insisted and at the mention of her name she immediately groaned.

A small red spot hovering just above her misshapen shelter alerted him to Tikki's presence and Chat perked hopefully, shooting her a pleading look with big, begging eyes. Tikki was reasonable, he thought. There's no way she'd ignore him.

Of course, he wasn't actually surprised when she did just that. She shot him a single unimpressed look before crossing her arms and turning away with a loud harrumph.

He had a contingency plan for this. Not missing a beat, he pulled off the bag of sweets he'd clipped to his belt before leaving his house. It had been Plagg's suggestion to bring them actually, reminding Adrien that he was in fact not the only cat in hot water.

"Tikki, please let me in. I'll give you these if you do." He jiggled the bag hard enough to catch her attention. For a moment, her eyes widened and flickered to the baggie but Marinette cried in outrage, momentarily poking out her head to shoot her kwami an incredulous look.

"Tikki no! Don't take any bribes from that mangy cat!"

Tikki frowned and, as he had figured, wasn't swayed and floated down to situate herself by Marinette's head but not before sending a brief longing look at the treats. Well, it had been worth a shot.

He frowned behind the glass, briefly glancing at his hand resting on the surface. Of course he could always use cataclysm, but he wanted her to actually consider forgiving him so that was definitely no good. This wasn't how he'd wanted to talk to her, but this would do; all he really wanted was for her to hear him out. Once he was done he would leave if she so wished but only after that. He tried once more. "Marinette... My lady-"

"LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

Ok, fine.

Time for Plan B.

Ten minutes later, Sabine hurried down to turn away the customer that had just entered the bakery as they were just about to close only to gasp in pleasant surprise when she saw a familiar boy had walked in instead, hand behind his back. He smiled politely but a knowing sparkle lit her eyes from the way he timidly tousled the back of his head.

"Hello Adrien. Here to see Marinette?"  She asked sweetly, beaming at the blonde boy who actually jumped and flushed.

"Good evening, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng and y-yes..." He stuttered but tried to seem as normal as possible. Sabine chuckled warmly, mind whirling with curiosity, but when he shifted it was impossible to miss the bundle of flowers peeking out from behind his back. She only smiled wider.

"Oh, those are lovely. Are they for Marinette?" She teased, entertained by the way he flushed brightly. Sabine didn't mean to torture the obviously already nervous boy, but this was just too adorable for her to remain silent. She didn't waste a moment before warmly ushering him in and promptly steered him towards Marinette's room before he could reply. At the base of the stairs, she smacked his back lightly.

"Good luck dear." She winked and felt just a little wicked when the poor boy actually gulped and scurried up the stairs. As soon as he was up, she rushed off to go fetch her husband.

Adrien glanced down at the bouquet of pink roses in his hand (if he'd had more time, he would no doubt have gone far greater lengths but being Chat Noir definitely had its perks as it was) and exchanged a tense glance with Plagg who was resting in his pocket and didn't look any better.

He rapped loudly on the door in warning and warily entered before quickly closing the trap door behind him. Having not moved at all, he could see the cocoon that was Marinette shift and groan from her bed.

"Mom, I told you, I don't want-"

"Actually, it's me." Adrien said nervously and her head popped up like an animal that'd been spooked, hair frazzled and eyes wide and drilling into him while her brain tried to register the fact that it wasn't Chat Noir but Adrien in her room. _Adrien._

If he had thought her face was red before, than it was nothing like it was now. 

Prepared this time, he was able to dodge most of the objects that flew his way, mostly trying to keep the flowers from harm. Lucky for him, they were mostly harmless as pillows took flight, but she was still _Ladybug_ and her throwing arm was nothing to sneeze at. She grit out several words, still bright red, between every attack.

"You can't just-"

Duck.

"Come into my room-"

Bat away.

"Like this! This is _cheating!_ "

"You know, maybe we should just let her cool down a little longer?" Plagg squeaked from his pocket. It was Adrien's mistake to glance down at the small kitten because that's when the surface of something very hard and solid smacked him right in the face.

He groaned loudly and gingerly touched the tender area of his nose which had received the brunt of the hit as the book which had hit its target too well thumped to the floor. Yup, that felt about as great as he imagined being on the receiving end of his lady's fury did.

" _OHMYGOD._ " There was a very loud scrambling and series of thumps as Marinette practically tumbled down the steps from her loft. She was by his side in an instant, hands fluttering in panic around his face as she tried to bat his hand away to assess the damage. " _Oh my god,_ Adrien, I am so _so_ sorry, I didn't think- I thought you'd dodge it-" She was so close, he could feel the warmth radiating off her skin and found himself unable to keep the bubble of amusement growing in his chest down despite the pain.

"No don't apologize, I definitely deserved that a little..." He said somewhat nasally but in a breathless laugh, eyes twinkling with mirth despite how they'd watered up a little. Then he felt a thin stream of warmth trickle down his chin and the unmistakable taste of copper blossom on his tongue and Marinette whimpered in horror.

"I did not just break Adrien Agreste's nose. _I did not just break your nose_." She croaked mostly to herself. "This is a nightmare."

Cupping his hand to capture the small droplets of blood, he waved his other hand, the one still holding her flowers, only for her to flush anew when she noticed them for the first time. "No, no, it's definitely not broken. Just a little sensitive." He even had the nerve to send her a small, cheeky smile.

That seemed to snap her out of it a little and a look that was so very Ladybug descended across her face. Steeling herself, Marinette ushered him over to the chaise and lightly pushed him down with a deep sigh. She finally took the flowers from his offering hand, gazing at them with a with a look of disbelief for a moment, before gently resting them beside him before going right back to him. Taking his hand (he could feel her shaking a little) she made him pinch the top of his nose and tipped his head back. "J-just wait here for a second, put pressure on it." She ordered and threw open the trap door, leaving him temporarily alone. Only then did he notice the two kwamis float up to his eye level.

"Well..." Plagg drawled, though it couldn't be more obvious he was trying to restrain laughter. "At least you got her to start talking to you. " He started to chuckle, only to be silenced almost instantaneously when Tikki shot him a dark look.

Marinette was back a minute later, arms full of first aid supplies, and she kicked the trap door shut on the sound of distant laughter that he could only assume belonged to her parents. He wasn't sure what Marinette must have told them, but at least they were getting a kick out of it.

She yanked her desk chair over in front of him and scooted herself close enough for their knees to touch, balancing a bowl of water in her lap and setting the rest of her materials beside him.

"Is it still bleeding?" She murmured quietly as she dipped a small towel into the bowl. Her hands paused hesitantly over his face to which he nodded as much as he could without flinging blood before she started to wipe the red off his face.

"I t-think it stopped." He hadn't meant to stutter but she was so close and so gently handling his face that he couldn't control the way his heart stuttered under her touch. Unable to do much else, he silently resigned himself to observing. His gaze trailed across her cheek, noting the cute spatter of light freckles, and then up to the stray flecks of color scattered throughout her blue eyes though she continued to determinedly avoid his. If anything at least he had the pleasure of watching her turn red all over again. At this rate, she would become a tomato and he couldn't keep down a chuckle at the image of Marinette with a tomato as a head from popping into his head. She paused in her cleaning, finally unable to keep from glancing at him.

"What?"

"Nothing." He said quickly. "Just... when I woke up this morning, this was the last thing I saw happening today."

In hindsight, he could've picked a better excuse because his mind instantly flashed back to that morning in which Adrien had already forgotten that they'd basically cuddled all night.  He was almost afraid the nosebleed would start again with how fast the blood rushed to his face and he could see her realize it too as she suddenly shot away from him, shoving a cool compressor into his hands.

"Y-you can do that yourself." She took a moment to breathe into her hands and steady herself before crossing them tightly around her chest and scooting a solid arm's distance away from him as she struggled to regain even a fraction of her composure. They fell back into an awkward silence. Though the embarrassment was still there and very mutual, Adrien could already see the anger leaking back into her face though she continued to avoid his gaze. He knew she was waiting for him.

"So..." Adrien finally said, pressing the compressor to his face and scratching the back of his head. "I think we've already established that I'm probably the last person you want to see right now-" He ignored her light snort. "And I know it was kind of a low blow for me to come in like this, but I had to properly explain myself. Plus, we both know about each other now so we couldn't just ignore that either..."

"A chance to explain you say?" She said it calmly, but her tone was tense and sharp. "I think you had more than enough chances to explain in the past _five_ days." Adrien flinched.

"I know and I'm sorry." Adrien said, completely serious and desperate for her to meet his gaze so she could _see_ how much he meant it. When he managed to catch her eyes however, she squeaked, and he was shocked when she swiveled her chair around until she was completely faced away from him.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"I-It's easier to talk to you like this. I'm still- If I'm looking at you..." She stuttered and trailed away miserably. "It's just easier ok!" Adrien frowned, only to feel a light stab to the heart right after when she hastily added, "Besides, this way I don't have to see your stupid face."

He sighed deeply. He wished she would face him but he had a good idea of what she must have been feeling like so he wouldn't call her out on it. Unlike him, she hadn't had the luxury of time to really process it on her own.

"I guess," Adrien started again, butterflies flittering nervously in his stomach once more. He groaned, setting the compress aside when his fingers began to numb. "I don't know even where to begin. This is a mess." He exhaled but was slightly comforted when some of the tension seemed to leave Marinette's shoulders as she muttered. "Tell me about it." He was surprised when she wheeled back around though she still looked down and had started nervously pulling at her hair.

"Just... start from the beginning." She said carefully.

"Okay." Adrien swallowed. "It started that first night, after I got shot by the arrow. I had already left to meet you but after the sun went down, I suddenly changed. I didn't know what was going on and our first thought was to go and find you so you could reverse the spell, but Plagg and I were separated when I slipped off the roof trying to chase you and... then you ended up finding me and taking me home. You even found my miraculous, as luck so had it." Now he was the one who couldn't meet her eyes.

"So you figured it out that first night?" She whispered.

"No," He admitted. "I came over the next day because I was just trying to get my miraculous back and the plan was still to go and find you afterwards, but then you transformed right in front of me." He floundered a bit, flustered. "It was an accident. And then you know how all that turned out." He laughed dryly, but it died in his throat when he saw that a frown had grown over her face.

"So..." She said hesitantly. "If you really did find out that second night like you said, then why didn't you just tell me then? Why keep coming back and continuing with the whole cat charade?" Her hands dropped to grasp each other as they started to tremble and she began to unconsciously raise her voice. "Did you think it was funny? How I was clueless?" She finally looked straight at him and he was horrified to see that tiny drops had started prickling at the corner of her eyes. "I had no idea what had happened or where you were or if you were _hurt_ and even though you were right there the entire time you just-"

"Marinette." Whatever words were about to follow were swallowed back down when she was pulled into a tight embrace as his arms wrapped around her. Hands trapped against his chest, she could feel how fast his heartbeat mimicked her own as he buried his face gently into her hair. She had half a mind to shove him away and shout some more, but she had been rendered helpless with shock and she cursed her body when she couldn't completely choke down the emotions that were flowing up.

Though she didn't return the embrace, she wasn't shoving him away either so he said. "I didn't think it was funny at all. I really, really messed up... I even made you cry and I can't forgive myself for that. I'm so sorry Marinette, and as much as I want your forgiveness I didn't come to see you to ask for it. I betrayed your trust and invaded your privacy all for my own selfish reasons." He felt her tense in his grip but he continued on before he lost his chance. "I never meant to find out the truth like that. I know how important keeping our identities from each other was, but once I found out I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. I was afraid that you'd be mad enough as it was but it wasn't just that either."

He took a deep breath, calmed by her familiar scent. Though he no longer had the heightened senses as he did as a cat, it had still come to comfort him. "I know Ladybug. Together we're teammates, partners... close friends. But I didn't actually know much about you. How could I when there was a completely different side to you? So when I realized who you were, like an idiot, all I could think about was how I wanted to know you more and more. Before I knew it, I just kept coming back because I enjoyed spending time with you. It was fun and it made me really happy. I didn't want to stay away from you because I..." He choked off on his own words; that conversation would be for another time. "T-those probably sound like horrible reasons, but it's the truth. Before I knew it, it had already been days and to be honest, I thought you'd be fine without me. I didn't mean for you to worry so badly and then why I saw you crying, I knew I had messed up. " He let out a shaky breath. "But here I am just making you cry all over again. How much worse of a guy can I be?"

She still hadn't moved closer, so he started to relax his grip to draw away. "Like I said, I didn't come to ask for you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know that I never meant to hurt or worry you like I did. I just... lost my head and I just need you to know that I'm sorry."

They settled into silence and his heart was heavy. "That's all I wanted to say. Thank you for hearing me out Princess. I'll go now; it's about time this cat got out of your hair." He had started to stand, but he met resistance and glanced down to find that her fingers had clenched tightly onto his shirt, locking him in place. They didn't relent their grip and only tightened when he tried moving away.

Her prolonged silence only continued to worry him even though he settled back down. "Marinette- oof!"

He was knocked back when she let her weight tip forward as she buried herself into him, gathering his shirt in fistfuls. Adrien held his breath.

Her voice was muffled, but he felt her speak against him even as he could feel the place where she had pressed her face grow damp. "You stupid _, stupid_ cat... Never worry me like that ever again."

In utter disbelief, he only pulled her back into his arms as she finally wrapped hers around him in turn.  "I know. I'm sorry." He knew he sounded like a broken record by this point but he would say it as many times as he needed.

Like that he held her for a little while, gently stroking her head until her trembling stopped though she continued to sniffle. When she finally pulled away, his hands were instantly reaching up to gently grasp her face and thumb away the tears. They both turned red at his actions, but she didn't pull away so neither did he.

"Sorry, I think I got a little crying snot on your shirt." She sniffled, slightly mortified, but couldn't help but let out a shuddery laugh when a warm smile crossed his face.

"I can live with a little snot. Besides, consider us even since I heard I kind of drooled on you earlier."

She laughed a little more and suddenly it had traveled its way through her body and she began to _giggle_ until it was a bit uncontrollable.

"Marinette?" Adrien asked in concern, but she couldn't stop. This was crazy. She tried to stop, she really did, but the harder she did, the harder the urge to laugh became and it was when she had finally doubled over in laughter that she was finally able to choke out words.

"I'm sorry," She guffawed, nearly in tears again. "Oh my god this is all so crazy. You're Adrien and I'm Ladybug and it's been that way _all this time_ , and it's just, I can't even begin- I mean then there was the _laser_... and the _catnip_." She fell into another round of boisterous laughter at the way Adrien's face flushed darkly. She'd dare say it was the most flustered she had seen him yet which only made her more giddy but though he looked like he wanted to protest, her laughter was infectious and soon they were both a laughing mess at how ridiculous it all was.

When they finally had a little more control over themselves, the tension had completely evaporated and suddenly it was just Marinette and Adrien, but it was also Ladybug and Chat Noir. They sent shy smiles each other's way.

"So..." He started timidly. "Does this mean you forgive me? Even after everything?"

She watched the way he radiated hope and she finally just let out a big sigh. "I think so." The reaction was instant: his face lit up like a Christmas tree and he practically began to _vibrate_ in excitement, but before he could get out another word, she held up a stern finger.

"Hold it there mister. You're not completely off the hook yet; I'm still mad at you." He physically wilted but she was unable to keep a little smile off her face. "So though I think I can forgive you, I have a few conditions." After all, maybe he already had had enough punishment; first there was the catnip, then his own embarrassing reveal, and then an almost broken nose as the cherry on top.

"Anything." He said it so seriously that it had her flushing all over again, but she met his stare straight on.

"One, no more secrets." She said sternly.

"No more secrets." He echoed immediately and from the look in his eye, she knew he was telling the truth. "Ever. And?"

"And two." She crossed her arms, pursing her lips to try and lose her smile. "No more puns."

" _What_?" He cried, pressing a hand to his heart like he'd been wounded. "But- but puns are part of who I am!"

"No more. The puns must stop." She said gravely though her eyes twinkled. "For all our sakes."

He made a show of flopping across the chaise and casting a dramatic arm over his forehead. "Marinette, please _no_. Why must you _pun_ -ish me so!" Marinette would've retorted but when the Chat-like grin slid over his face, Marinette found herself beginning to flounder all over again.

Noticing, Adrien sat up and tilted his head, confused, but still grinning. "What?"

She laughed nervously. "Sorry, this'll still take some getting used to. But fine, if not puns, I'll find payment in other ways. I fully intend to have you make it up to me." She had said it jokingly, but Adrien was already nodding.

"Oh absolutely. I'm prepared to do anything you wish."

She must've been dreaming. That was the only way Marinette could explain all this because though this was Chat Noir, it was also Adrien, and her brain was beginning to catch up and registering that not a moment ago they had been embracing and he had been saying all those things about wanting to get to know her and oh god she was getting really, really red again. At the same moment though, a different thought crossed her mind and suddenly she was flying away from him at high speed, practically throwing herself across her wall as he watched in shock.

That cat had been him the whole time. The _whole_ time. Which meant everything she'd done, everything she'd said, he'd seen and heard.

_Everything._

As she looked at all her pictures of him that still plastered her walls, she could tell that he'd realized what she was doing now. He only blushed a little but had the gall to actually look sheepish. If only she could melt into the floor. But there was one thing she couldn't remember and she turned to look at him in horror.

"Did you see...?" She demanded fearfully, feeling faint, and she couldn't help but glance at the still wrapped up schedule that hung innocently a few feet away.

He only blinked in confusion. "See what?"

"Um nothing! Nothing at all, just forget it!" She squeaked, but let out a loud whoosh of relief though knowing that he'd still seen everything else wasn't much better. She desperately combed her memory, trying to think of every little thing she might've said or done the past few days with him there. "A-adrien, about e-everything I must've said over the past few days-"

There was a sharp knock on her door and they jumped, simultaneously turning to see Sabine poking her head up and smiling cheekily.

"How's your nose dear? Marinette mentioned that you'd accidentally hit it somehow." Marinette looked pointedly away, determined to not meet his smirking gaze. "Anyways, we were wondering if you'd like to stay for dinner. I already made enough for four if you were interested."

"O-oh! I wouldn't want to intrude." Adrien said hurriedly. He stood up, but his heart was already sinking a little. None of this had gone exactly according to plan and though he had mostly said what he'd wanted to and everything seemed okay (well, better than okay to be honest) there were still things he'd wanted to talk about, but he didn't want to overstay his welcome either. She _had_ said she was still a little mad with him which was perfectly understandable.

"You should stay..."

He almost thought he'd misheard for a moment and turned to Marinette with wide eyes. She nervously tugged at one of her pigtails but when she finally met his gaze, her face was determined. "Please stay. For dinner. But, uh, I mean, only if you want to, that is." She trailed off in a stammer, but she didn't avert her gaze and he could see she was serious and his heart skipped a beat when he realized that she even looked _hopeful_.

"Okay." He turned back to Sabine. "I'd love to stay, if it's really alright."

"Of course it is! We're not having anything too fancy, I'm afraid." She chuckled in good humor, giving him a good look over. "But we need to put some meat on those bones after all-"

" _Mom_!"

Sabine smiled innocently. "So I hope lasagna sounds good."

"Y-yeah," He laughed, releasing a genuine smile. "That sounds great."

After Sabine disappeared back down, Marinette moved for the stairs and gestured for him to follow.

He hesitated for just a second. "Wait Marinette, I still-"

She held up a hand and he instantly shut up, but it calmed him to see the smile pulling at her mouth. "We'll have time to talk later. Don't worry kitty." She topped off the pet name with a bold wink. "But for now, I think I'm ready to just forget everything and stuff my face." She rubbed her temples with a loud groan. Adrien gaped, mildly reeling from the pet name (ha), but a hesitant, familiar grin slowly slid across his face like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"My Lady!" He exclaimed, enjoying just a little too much how she started at the name. "That doesn't sound very lady-like at all." She sent him a withering glare but there was no true heat behind it and he followed her down, the two laughing as something big and warm swelled inside them both.

~.~.~.~.~

Adrien was ecstatic. The weeks that followed were surprisingly... good. Really good.

That night and one horrifyingly embarrassing dinner filled with relentless teasing later, Adrien had left feeling more warm and happy than he had felt in a long time and they'd bid each other goodnight with flushed faces. From her smile, he knew that everything was good between them, or as good as they could be, for the time being. She had even slipped Plagg a couple of his owed cheese breads to which said kwami practically inhaled and added boisterous comments of "Marry her! Marry her right now!" to which Adrien promptly squished the little devil silent against him and ran away despite Marinette's embarrassed giggling.

He hadn't been able to go back to school for another day as the promised doctor fidgeted over him but when it was found that he'd somehow been miraculously cured, they could only shrug and declare that he was well enough to go back to school. Though he was plenty behind, he'd never been more glad to return.

That morning, he'd even showed up a bit early so he could wait for Marinette and walk with her. She'd been surprised and though she fidgeted a bit at first it only took a couple of his glorious puns before she was smirking and rolling her eyes soon enough and it all felt so... natural. Outside their classroom, he also tried giving back the bell she'd given to him as a cat, but with a mischievous smirk she'd gently poked it, an action she'd done so many times, and merely stated that it had been for him. The look on Nino and Alya's faces when a blushing Adrien stumbled in after a smirking Marinette was priceless to say the least.  

As for Ladybug and Chat Noir, though it took a couple days of adjusting at first, they'd soon enough found their footing and had never been more in sync. To the outsider, nothing seemed to change, but really... everything was just a little different. And then there were all the little things that had started between them. Every time they'd go for a fist bump it always seemed to last a little longer than necessary or sometimes he'd almost catch her staring at him and sometimes she'd almost catch him doing the same to her or even the other times when he thought he imagined the way she blushed at some of his flirtier jokes, which he'd dialed down considerably, though his puns were merciless as ever.

This unspoken...thing between them only continued to linger, charged in the air, between them whenever they were together. She had said they would talk and so Adrien was content to wait, wanting to give her space and a chance to think things through before they dared to breached the subject. They had time and they were using that time to only grow closer.

But out of all the good, there was one big problem that hadn't really gone away and that was Adrien's aching need for being pet. He had hoped this was some side effect from being a cat that would wear off eventually, but as the days went by, the itch only came and went even more until he was tossing and turning with unrest. So it might not have been _that_ big of a problem, but it was definitely annoying to say the least.

He and Ladybug were perched side by side on the Eiffel tower, staring at the streets below and reveling in the peace only they were allowed. They were far enough apart to not touch but too close to be entirely platonic, and that's where it had lingered. Until tonight when this new annoying need of his decided to make its presence known.

Normally they'd banter for a bit or maybe he'd teasingly flirt and she'd probably gently poke at his nose and shove him away, but tonight was just a little different. There was nothing that needed to be said and so they found themselves simply enjoying each other's company in peace while sharing a small bag of sweets she had brought from the bakery.

"What's the occasion?" He asked as she offered him the bag, all too eager for the goodies. Her bakery's goods had become an addiction of his by now. "What did I do to deserve this Princess?"

She smirked. "No occasion. Can I not just be nice to my partner if I feel like it? Plus, I think the heroes of Paris deserve a little treat every once in a while, don't you?"

"Oh absolutely." He snagged two cookies and practically inhaled one which elicited a giggle from her and warmed his heart. He grinned, waving his other one at her. "You're so _sweet_ my lady."

She rolled her eyes. "That was so weak."

"Hey!" He flashed her big kitty eyes. "All of my puns are top quality. In fact, you could say they're..." He leaned in close, eyes twinkling. "To dough for."

He could see she was fighting to keep down laugher and so there they sat, falling into a companionable silence as they continued to work through the bag of goodies. Even once they'd finished the bag, they still sat, neither making the move to head home though their patrol had long since ended.

Ladybug was the first to make a move and she stretched her arms above her head. Taking the cue that she was about to make her departure, Chat stood up beside her. "We should probably head home now. We do have all that homework due tomorrow."

"Right..." Chat trailed off, but his gaze had fixed to her hand and he watched as it moved down and reach out towards him. Unconsciously, his body went rigid, tingling with anticipation and he held his breath, watching it like a hawk as it dropped lower and lower. Only for it to stop at her middle as she began to wave and he couldn't help it as his disappointment all came out in a big whoosh, like a balloon deflating, and he whined _loudly_.

 He couldn't slap his hand over his mouth quick enough and they both went stiff with surprise. He'd gone extremely red and she paused, eyes wide, her yoyo frozen in her grasp.

"W-what was _that_?" She asked, smile twitching at her lips. Chat was ready to fly home now and maybe bury himself under the covers.

" _Nothing goodnight Princess!_ " Heart thumping, he whirled around and had nearly made his escape when the all too familiar yank at his tail stopped him in his tracks. Helpless, he turned to find her smirking at him, his tail wrapped in her fist.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked sweetly, but she was also twitching curiously. "That was obviously not nothing! And you're acting suspicious now, so you have to tell me!"

"N-no!" He whined, mortified. He couldn't possibly tell her.

"Why not?"

"It's... embarrassing." He actually choked out.

She only arched an eyebrow, but released his tail. "Now I need to know. It can't be that bad! I promise I won't laugh. Plus we agreed no more secrets, remember?" Ugh, he really should never have allowed himself to get to the point where a single person could have this much command over him because when he turned to see her warm smile aimed right at him, he knew he couldn't deny her anything. After all, she was his princess.

"I-I," He poked his fingers together and then finally blurted out. "I just _kindofsortofmissyourpetting._ "

She blinked but chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't really catch that. Again?"

"I just really... miss your petting. You know, when I was a ...cat. And for a second I thought you were..." He could feel himself flushing with every word coming from his mouth beneath the mask and he buried his face in his hands, horrified that he was admitting this out loud. He waited for the laughter to come but when it never did, he finally gathered enough courage to peek through his fingers.

Instead of laughing, she had gone bright red and looked nearly as bad as him.

There was an awkward moment of silence before she finally turned away and took a breath. Then she glanced over her shoulder, the blush still prominent.

"...Would you be willing to meet me at home in half an hour?"

He dropped his hands in surprise, bewildered and nervous. "Um... sure?"

She only blushed brighter, her voice going slightly high as her nerves got the better of her. "O-okay. See you soon." She slipped off before he could fit in another word.

He spent a solid minute just staring in the general direction that she'd disappeared in, the butterflies coming back full force. She'd just invited him home and it was far too late to be just a friendly visit, but he wasn't about to miss out on more time spent with her and several minutes later he found himself making his way to her house, taking a scenic way to kill the time.

Half an hour on the dot later, he anxiously approached her balcony. Her lights were off but to his relief she was already waiting for him outside. She had pulled out her comforter and spread it across the ground, even having laid out a large plate full of sweets and cheese (Plagg had received all his due cheese, the spoiled little cat) and had de-transformed and let down her hair. She was giggling softly as she nuzzled Tikki when he arrived. Taking the hint, he released his own transformation, temporarily filling the space with intense green light until it was just him and just Marinette.

Though he lost his night vision, he could still see the smile that graced her face from the dim light of the city and the Eiffel tower in the distance. She set Tikki down by the plate before beckoning him over and patting the blanket. Still confused but curious, he complied and dropped beside her, heart slightly quickening when she peeked up at him beneath her lashes and began to twiddle her fingers.

"Hey." He breathed.

"Hello." She smiled and his heart careened once again. He waited for her to say something, staring as she continued to fidget awkwardly. "So I was thinking..." She said, but realizing that she was fidgeting, stuffed her hands into her lap. "Sorry. It's still taking me a bit getting used to... watching you de-transform like that." She gestured helplessly to him and he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.  "I'll get the hang of it. Unlike you though, who basically stalked me for a week."

"I wasn't stalking!" He gaped, instantly on the defensive. "I was spending time with you." The words were out before he could help himself, but what was the use. Tonight's theme was just Adrien opening his big mouth without thinking. There was a small snort from the side and they glanced over to where Plagg was nursing a loaf while Tikki just giggled beside him. It had taken her a little longer to come around and forgive, and Adrien had never seen Plagg look so dejected before (he couldn't even enjoy his camembert, he'd seemed so miserable) but when she finally did, it was amazing how he'd pepped right back and seemed even more annoying than ever, but Adrien knew he was just happy.

"Creepy." He cackled, despite Tikki's light hit. Adrien deadpanned.

"Shut up Plagg."

" _So I was thinking_ ," Marinette repeated, drawing his attention back to her. "For just this once..." She trailed off again, looking away with her next words. "I mean, it _is_ your fault that I lost my cuddle partner, and I kind of miss my kitty..." His breath caught. "So I guess it can't be helped, but..." She shyly pat her lap and his eyes widened at what he thought she meant.

"Really?" He didn't mean to sound so needy, but she didn't seem bothered and nodded.

"But it's just for this once!" She reiterated quickly but Adrien only nodded mutely, lips tight. They fell into an awkward silence again until he realized that she must've been waiting for him to make a move.

Almost robotically, he swiveled around to lay himself down and nearly missed her lap until he felt her gently grab his head and guide it into her lap. Her hands fluttered nervously over his head at first but when she slowly started pulling her fingers through his hair, it was like a switch had been flipped and his eyes slipped close as he melted into her touch. He'd really, truly missed this. Unconsciously, he started nuzzling against her hands and Marinette finally relaxed as well. Laughing softly, they both lay there quietly beneath the stars.

A subtle, low rumble filled the silence and her fingers stilled in surprise. He let out a small groan of disappointment but met her questioning glance.

"I know cats purr, but I didn't think that even you could." She snickered quietly. Adrien tilted his head.

"What? I'm not purring." He protested, looking around with his limited swivel room. They went quiet and looked around for the source of the noise that continued to permeate the silence.

"Aha." Marinette giggled. Adrien allowed her hands to steer his head to the side and he had to lightly crane his neck to see but a small smile crossed his face at the scene before them. Lounged across the now empty plate, Plagg was deeply nestled against a softly glowing Tikki who was petting him in a reflection of their charges. As if sensing the stares that had trained on him, Plagg popped open an eye and began to scowl.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's rude to stare?" He snapped and grabbed a giggling Tikki's arm to promptly drag her though the window into Marinette's room. Marinette and Adrien burst out laughing but at least now they were totally alone and had their own privacy. Among their subtle tip-toeing around each other, this was the first time they had been so exposed to each other since that night.

 Adrien allowed a sly smirk to slide across his face. "I had no idea Plagg was such a romantic. You could say... he's kind of cheesy." He grinned at the loud groan that followed though it cost a pillow stuffed into his face.

"You know I think I liked it better when you could only meow."

He pulled the pillow down, laughing. "Me-ouch. That hurts Princess."

The blush that settled across her cheeks sent his heart tumbling though he didn't comment on it. "I can't believe I used to think you were cool."

They dissolved into giggles and it struck them both just how comfortable it felt between them and right then they were Ladybug and Chat Noir but also Marinette and Adrien and the thought alone made Adrien snuggle back into her lap, pleased when she went right back to playing with his hair.

A cool breeze wafted across the roof but Marinette was prepared; she pulled over extra blankets she'd laid to the side and warped one around her shoulders and threw the other across the rest of him, but his mind had drifted elsewhere, the cold reminding him of something.

"Hey Marinette?" He asked quietly.

"Hm?" She hummed in response.

"Did you ever finish those gloves you were making?" He tried to be subtle about pulling the blanket over his nose to hide the red that had crossed his face. The fingers in his hair stumbled but didn’t cease.

“F-funny. I didn’t think you actually wanted them.” She stuttered first, both their minds traveling back to that specific day, but he could just hear a smirk growing in her voice. “If I remember correctly, some certain annoying cat kept me from working on them every time I tried. Seems to me like you wanted the opposite.”

He was instantly defensive. “That’s because you weren’t paying attention to me!” He slapped his hands over his face too late. Did he seriously just say that? From the look on her face, he could only affirm that he did.

This lack of impulse control was getting out of hand. Usually as Adrien Agreste, he was the perfect actor: doing and moving and going anywhere as he was instructed to do and with an expected smile. He would say what needed to be said, but wouldn’t betray anything else until he was in the safety of his own space. It was when he became Chat Noir that that air of restraint evaporated. But now the line between Adrien and Chat had all but blurred and it made him nervous and feel exposed, but at the same time he liked whatever this more complete self he could only be in the presence of his princess was. He didn't think it was too unreasonable to think that she did too.  

Her hands had stilled and he bit back a protest when she pulled them away only for a second later for them to return as they began to dangle a thick wad of something dark over his face. He reached out to grab it in growing disbelief and unrolled them, unsurprised to find his gloves.

Speechless, he ran his fingers over the stitched fabric and stared at her, clenching them tightly against his racing heart. She had replaced her hands in her lap and was avoiding his gaze now, an uncommon shy quiet settling in the air. He slowly sat up to properly face her.  

“Marinette,” He said and she tensed quietly but still met his gaze. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about and I don’t want to keep it in any longer. Several things actually…” If this wasn't the right time to put it out there, then he was sure that it would never come. Adrien reached out without thinking to take one of her hands for strength. She was surprised but didn't pull away. He took that as a good enough sign as any to continue and so he did.

“I know about the scarf.” He said and held her hand firmly when he felt her pulse stuttering beneath his fingertips. He wondered if she could feel how hard his must have been pounding as well. “I saw it in your design book when I knocked it over and you talked about it.”

“I… remember.” She whispered.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Adrien pressed.

“I already said at the time didn’t I?” She evaded. “I know I also talked about how I liked- that I...” She whispered and he hurt with how small and vulnerable she looked right now. He squeezed her hand in a show of solidarity, hoping that she would understand. “Adrien, I-”

“That day,” He interrupted gently. “I wanted to tell you a lot of things, but I couldn’t.” He paused, taking a moment to recollect himself, his throat thick with the memory. “I know I tried explaining it before, but do you really know why I kept coming back?”

“Why?” She stared at him, her blue eyes glimmering with flecks of starlight, and it was like standing at the edge of a cliff with nothing to protect him from taking the final plunge. There was clearly only one way to go but at the same time, he hadn't realized it till now but sometime in the past he must have already taken that step because before he knew it, he had already fallen.

“I don’t know how you still feel… about me, now that you know who I am, but I kept coming back because I wanted spend time with you. I wanted to see what made you smile or what made you laugh.  I wanted to know what you like, what you don’t like, everything that makes you happy. I want to learn everything. You’re the most amazing person I've ever met and you need to know that. When you were talking about how you felt like Ladybug wasn’t you, I completely disagreed. I still do more than ever. Ladybug is all she is _because_ it’s you Marinette. It’s all completely and utterly _you._ And that’s who I fell in love with.” There. It was out now and there was no way of putting it back. He felt himself beginning to ramble as he let out a breathless laugh. “Even now, it doesn’t feel like enough. I want to spend more time with you and be with you always. And I want you to know me…”

Her eyes widened with every word and she was staring at him in utter shock now, eyes glimmering and unreadable.

“You don’t have to answer me or anything.” He said quickly. “I just… really needed you to know that.”

For a long time, she didn’t say anything but when Adrien began to release her, there was the slightest pressure against his hand as she squeezed back. It wasn’t much, barely anything, but her grip was tight and wasn’t letting go and that was _everything_ and he was filled with very real hope.

Adrien didn’t let go of her even as he climbed to his knees, slowly moving both of his hands up to her face till his fingers were dusting across her cheeks. It almost felt like he was wading through a dream, but at the same time was connected to everything. He was aware of the stray wisps of her hair that tickled his hands in the breeze, the warmth of her breath ghosting across his face, and of just how close he’d gotten to her, how close they were still leaning.

“Marinette,” He didn't take his eyes off her once. “Can I kiss you?”

Her breathing hitched and there was a long lingering moment where anything could happen and then he felt it, the tiny shift of her head as she gave a tiny nod and he closed the distance between them.

The kiss didn't last long, but her lips were soft and it was sweet and it was perfect. When he drew away, she had gone bright red (no doubt as red as he was) but it only took a moment before there was a brief flurry and he was pressing down upon her again, gripping her tighter and unable to keep the smile off his lips as he fixed his over hers as they met each other in a clash of unwinding feelings. Her arms wrapped around him, pulling him closer and he swept his hand up, brushing it against the back of her neck and threading his fingers through the soft hair behind her ear. She sighed and Adrien paused, drawing away as they dissolved into a mess of giggles and giddy, bashful smiles as he gently pressed his forehead against hers. Curious, he slid his hand across the same spot behind her ear again and felt a fit of butterflies burst when he managed to extract the same blissful sigh from her as she pressed into the touch.

He couldn't keep the grin off his face if he tried. "Well well, look who's purring now."

She rolled her eyes and pulled him back down, smiling against his mouth.

"Shut up kitty."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the longer than usual wait but I FINALLY got it done. It took me sooo long to edit and I bet there are still tons of mistakes but I had to just put it out. Anyways, I hope the extra long chapter makes up for it c:  
> But yay! We made it to the end! I'm so happy how this turned out and I'm ecstatic with the wonderful response I got from you guys with your comments and kudos so thank you so much! It was really encouraging. I'm already planning future fics too (no spoiler ;-D), so if you guys were interested, please keep an eye out :)
> 
> Until then, take care and stay miraculous ;)
> 
> \-----  
> EDIT:   
> OH MY SADFLKJ there is fanart. I repeat. FANART. ;-;   
> Thank you so so so much! They're super cute and I am very unworthy
> 
> http://emeraldcolorfruit.tumblr.com/post/136497446680/im-in-love-with-a-fic-the-cat-goesmeow-i
> 
> http://relientkpanda.tumblr.com/post/141761896072/uwaaaahh-fanfic-doodles-while-listening-to


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